Dietetic Student Involvement in a Sports Nutrition Education Program for University Athletes

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a sports nutrition counseling experiential learning opportunity on self-efficacy and nutrition counseling skills in the undergraduate dietetic students and dietary goal adherence in collegiate athlete clients after receiving the student-led nutrition counseling intervention. Methods: This mixed methods design, using a thematic analysis and pre- and post-testing, was implemented at a mid-sized university in the Midwestern United States. There were fifteen undergraduate dietetic students and nine collegiate athletes. Results: Counseling confidence in the dietetic students improved significantly from session one to session three (p \u3c 0.001). Conclusions and Implications: Similar programs can be implemented in undergraduate dietetic programs within the academic setting to provide a valuable nutrition resource for collegiate athletes and experience for dietetic students. Examining the program with a larger population can allow for analysis of a causal relationship between the intervention and measured outcomes

Enhancing the Dietetic Undergraduate Cultural Competemility Journey

Dietetic undergraduate students need to develop their cultural competence and cultural humility in order to work effectively with diverse groups of people. This study aims to identify and understand how undergraduate curricular, co-curricular, and work experiences influence the dietetic majors’ journey in cultural competency and cultural humility. Fifteen dietetics alums from the small midwestern university were purposely sampled from students who graduated between 2018-2022 (7 registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs), 8 dietetic interns). They first completed the Cultural Learning Inventory that specifically looked at experiences, interactions, training, curriculum, and co-curricular and programmatic learning during one\u27s undergraduate years. Next, each participant participated in a one-on-one semi-structured interview on Zoom. Utilizing Capinha Bacote’s Cultural Competemility framework, the main topics were discussed: describing one\u27s undergraduate experiences, skills needed to work with diverse populations, and the importance of cultural competency and humility in the registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) profession. Participants agreed that the university, program, and profession are bubbles (environments without a lot of diversity), and one needs to engage in a variety of experiences to enhance their cultural competence and cultural humility. Being curious and in discomfort, they sought experiences outside of their comfort zone, grew in humility, and developed effective skills for communication and interaction. Mapping of curricular and co-curricular coursework has been enhanced to deepen one’s cultural competency and cultural humility. After collaboration with the program’s faculty, courses in the dietetics curriculum have been selected, evaluated, and revised with examples of how to support one\u27s journey in cultural competence and cultural humility. Additionally, an infographic sharing the lessons learned from the alumni has been created and will be integrated into the program

Meeting Community and Student Needs Through a Sports Nutrition and Wellness Club

Sports nutrition is a specialized field in dietetics and is an interest of many dietetic majors. Therefore, a Sports Nutrition and Wellness Club was created in 2018 to provide experiential learning for dietetic majors that have expressed interest in sports nutrition and address a need expressed from the University and local communities. Upon initiation into the club using the “train the trainer” model, dietetic students are mentored and trained in nutrition assessment, evaluation, intervention and counseling of clients. The two tasks of the club are to provide individual nutrition counseling sessions and athlete cooking and sports nutrition education classes. The individual counseling sessions include clients from the University Wellness Program and Recreation Sport. Along with mentoring from a registered and licensed dietitian nutritionist (RDN LD), dietetic majors work in pairs to complete full nutrition assessments using the Nutrition Care Process and the Nutrition Data Set for Research (NDSR) nutrient analysis program. During the cooking and education sessions, the club collaborates with University athletic teams to provide evidenced based sports nutrition information relevant to their sport coupled with hands-on cooking skills that reinforce the education. All sessions are reviewed and attended by a registered and licensed dietitian nutritionist (RDN LD). The Sports Nutrition and Wellness Club has grown from eight dietetic majors to approximately 22 in a 18 month time span. Currently, data is being collected to measure impact of the two tasks and how the Sports Nutrition and Wellness Club strengthens the dietetic majors’ sports nutrition knowledge and counseling skills

Pilot Nutrition, Fitness and Injury Screening Clinic: Accomplishments and Outlook

The Department of Health and Sport Science has recently piloted a Nutrition, Fitness, and Injury Screening clinic to provide an experiential-learning opportunity for our student practitioners as well as important health-related data to the campus community. Within this program, clients are able to complete one or more of the following: nutritional consultations, health and skill related fitness testing, and injury screening. Faculty and students participated in the clinic as either part of a course, research group, or co-curricular club. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the services we offered, the student projects that have been supported by our work thus far, and our vision for the future of a fee-for-testing model of interdisciplinary experiential learning that provides value to our community