Doha, Qatar: A recent study has shed light on the dietary patterns of primary healthcare practitioners (PHPs) in Qatar and their influence on diet counseling practices with patients.
The research emphasises the vital role physicians play in shaping patients’ health habits, noting that for effective lifestyle counselling, practitioners must themselves model healthy dietary behaviours.
The study, titled Nourishing Insights: Exploring How Primary Healthcare Practitioners’ Eating Habits Influence Diet Counselling Approaches in Qatar, was published in the March edition of the Qatar Journal of Public Health and on the QScience online platform. It aimed to investigate how the eating habits of healthcare providers influence their counselling of patients regarding nutrition and weight management.
The research surveyed 306 primary healthcare practitioners out of 511 working at Primary Health Care Corporation’s healthcare centres using a self-administered questionnaire adapted from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Stepwise survey.
The survey revealed that many healthcare providers did not meet the WHO’s recommended intake of fruits and vegetables. In fact, 75.1% of the practitioners reported not adhering to these guidelines, signalling a gap between knowledge and practice in the healthcare community.
The study also found that 58.2% of patients received advice from their PHPs about maintaining a healthy diet and managing their weight. However, there was a notable relationship between primary healthcare practitioners’ dietary habits and their counselling practices. For example, primary healthcare practitioners who consumed fast food and sweets less than once a week were 20% more likely to provide diet counselling to their patients.
One significant finding of the study was that gender was the only independent factor affecting whether primary healthcare practitioners met the WHO recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, with female practitioners more likely to adhere to the guidelines than their male counterparts. However, despite these differences, adherence to dietary recommendations did not directly impact the likelihood of providing dietary advice to patients.
The study also highlighted barriers that primary healthcare practitioners face in providing effective counselling, including time constraints and language barriers, which they reported as significantly limiting their ability to engage in comprehensive dietary discussions with patients.
Researchers suggest that in order to improve patient health outcomes, it is essential for primary healthcare practitioners to model healthy behaviors themselves.
A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats can not only improve practitioners’ personal health but also serve as a positive example for patients seeking advice on nutrition.
The study calls for further investigation into how healthcare providers’ personal dietary habits impact their counselling practices, suggesting that qualitative research, including focus groups, could offer deeper insights into the challenges and motivations of physicians when it comes to diet-related patient education.
