Year

2002

Degree Name

Master of Science (Hons.)

Department

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences

Abstract

The need to convert theory into practice within the nutrition field involves incorporating research findings regarding nutritional health into the practice of dietitians. Evidence based practice is a form of this process. Nationally and internationally the move towards evidence based health care is represented by the development of evidence based practice guidelines. The aim of this thesis was to make recommendations for the development of Australian dietetic practice guidelines for diabetes (DPGD). The objectives of this thesis were to audit the development processes of three sets of existing DPGD, to compare and contrast the content of these guidelines and describe dietitians' current practice and views on best practice in Type 2 diabetes. The first part of the thesis compared and contrasted Queensland, New Zealand and American DPGD for development processes and content. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommendations were used to critique the development processes. The second part of the thesis involved interviews with dietitians working in the field of diabetes. The principles of ethnography were adopted for the methodology. Ethnography is a field of qualitative social science research, which aims to describe what people do in their daily lives. In keeping with this approach, in-depth interviews were applied to capture the dietitian's own descriptions of diabetes management.

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.