Nutrition Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Nurses and Physicians of Palestinian Hospitals in the Gaza Strip

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to explore the nutritional knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of nurses and physicians who are working at major Palestinian hospitals in Gaza Strip. This is a cross-sectional study where 96 nurses and 48 physicians were recruited. The study used a self-administered questionnaire that includes socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of nutritional science, attitudes towards the use of nutrition care in clinical sittings, and nutrition practicing and counseling. The average age of all the respondents was 32 years, ranging from 22 - 54 years. About 14.6% of all participants attended more than 4 weeks of training in nutrition; however, the majority of this training is intended to deal with healthy subjects. The mean score of physicians’ nutrition knowledge was 10.91, which was significantly higher than the nurses ‘nutrition knowledge score of 7.44. No statistical differences observed between nurses and physicians regarding attitude scale and practice. Overall, the obtained percentages of attitude among nurses were 54.2% positive, 22.9% neutral, and 22.9% negative. The obtained percentages of attitudes among physicians were 47.9% positive, 16.7% neutral, and 35.4% negative. Finally, the percentages of good nutrition practices via assessment and counseling were 53.1% for nurses and 52.1% for physicians. It was concluded that nurses and physicians were unable to provide effective nutrition intervention in health care settings and needed to improve their nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practices.