Unit rationale, description and aim
A cornerstone of dietetic practice is the nutrition management process, from assessment to counselling and evaluation. Through examination of current practice, and application of the nutrition management process, students will be supported to develop skills in conducting one-one consultations with a diverse range of clients. They will be expected to apply their knowledge of the pathophysiology and management of common conditions including overweight and obesity, and be able to collect, interpret and record relevant anthropometrical, biochemical, clinical, dietary, and environmental data across a range of platforms to inform decisions about nutrition care. Students will be expected to apply behaviour change theory to perform basic dietary change counselling with individuals and communicate with other health professionals the outcomes of their client consultations. Further, through analysis of the provision of food to support/improve the nutrient status of individuals, students will be expected to propose appropriate solutions to food-provisioning problems to support meeting nutrition goals in a range of settings. This unit aims to assist students to develop skills in nutrition management to enter their first individual case management placement with confidence, competence. Students will demonstrate their abilities through a skills examination.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Systematically apply the elements of the nutrition...
Learning Outcome 01
Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability to new te...
Learning Outcome 02
Propose solutions to problems related to healthy f...
Learning Outcome 03
Communicate professionally and effectively with cl...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
This unit includes topics related to the development and demonstration of professional dietetic practice and competence according to the Accreditation Standards of Dietitians Australia. These are described under the heading ‘Building professional dietetic practice’ in each unit outline and build on topics delivered synchronously and progressively throughout the degree. Those in bold reflect ‘new’ topics addressed in this unit. Students will have opportunities for collecting evidence of competence in these, and in other areas (italics).
Building professional dietetic practice
- reflection and evaluation of practice, peer support and assessment
- acknowledges, reflects and understands own values, beliefs, attitudes, biases and assumptions and their influence on practice
- scope of practice and standards of care, codes of conduct
- culturally safe and responsive practice (requiring emotional, spiritual, and cultural intelligence)
- continuing professional development,
- attributes (empathy, flexibility, adaptability, resilience, ethical, respectful, demonstrates integrity, honesty, fairness, critical thinker)
- understanding and advocating for the role of the dietitian in individual nutrition management
Building relationships with individual clients and the food, nutrition, and health care team to improve and food and nutrition management
- active listening, interpersonal and interviewing skills
- collaboration and communication skills with individuals (clients, client-advocates/helpers/carers, food and health care workers, managers, supervisors)
- feedback cycles
- mentor-mentee relationships
- teamwork and responsibilities in food and health care teams
- conflict resolution
- negotiation
- trust and rapport
- facilitating priority of food and nutrition management
Behaviour change theories (continued in later unit)
- self-efficacy
- models to facilitate behaviour change
Stages of change model
Food and nutrition assessment, traditional and contemporary (encompassing broad health and nutritional status determinants, and barriers to making dietary change)
- data collection
- collation
- interpretation
- recording
Individualising nutrition care
- culturally and audience specific, sensitive and safe, e.g. in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Culturally and linguistically diverse groups, people with disabilities
- using interpreters and translation of food and nutrition information
- translation of current food and nutrition science and dietetic best practice into sustainable, practical advice
- disease pathophysiology and management, nutrition diagnoses and collaborative, client-centred and tailored goal formation implementation and review,
- dietary change counselling to build self-efficacy for making positive food, nutrition and health changes in individuals
- Health at Every Size (HAES) principles
- providing and improving access to healthy food for individuals in health care and home settings for the following common conditions
- undernutrition
- overnutrition including overweight and obesity
Assessment strategy and rationale
Five assessment tasks are sequenced to progressively support students' learning and development of professional competence through authentic assessment.
Assessment 1 (graded hurdle), a series of nutrition management case studies investigating common nutrition-related conditions, commences the development of individual case management skills through the nutrition care process. These case studies allow students to progress their professional competence from pre-novice to novice whilst allowing assessment of students’ knowledge. This task is a hurdle as it is the only task students can demonstrate an appropriate level of competency in theoretical nutrition care processes.
Assessment 2 requires students to apply their learning and feedback to demonstrate theoretical dietetic practice with individuals to solve a food and nutrition problem in client care.
Assessment 3 requires students to apply their learning and feedback to demonstrate theoretical knowledge through creative communication, and nutrition management with diverse audiences.
Assessment 4 (graded hurdle), requires students to commence development of their professional practice portfolio. Students will commence collection of evidence of developing professional competence. This task is a hurdle to ensure students demonstrate the competency standards required by Dietitians Australia.
Assessment 5 (ungraded hurdle) requires students to successfully complete a skills exam. This task is a hurdle as it is the only task students can demonstrate an appropriate level of competency in practical nutrition care processes.
Overview of assessments
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate that they have achieved each learning outcome, passed all graded or ungraded hurdle tasks, and obtain a total mark of 50% in the unit as the minimum standard.
Assessment 1: Case Studies (*Graded Hurdle) Case...
Assessment 1: Case Studies (*Graded Hurdle)
Case studies - enables students to demonstrate their ability to interpret and apply evidence related to the nutrition management process with individuals.
*Graded Hurdle
35%
Assessment 2: Written assessment task Enables st...
Assessment 2: Written assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate their ability to solve a food-provision-to-individuals related problem.
25%
Assessment 3: Multimedia assessment task Enable...
Assessment 3: Multimedia assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate their ability to creatively communicate individualised nutrition management with diverse audiences.
30%
Assessment 4: Professional practice portfolio (*G...
Assessment 4: Professional practice portfolio (*Graded Hurdle)
Enables students to gather evidence to demonstrate competence to practice .
*Graded Hurdle
10%
Skills exam (**Ungraded Hurdle) Enables students...
Skills exam (**Ungraded Hurdle)
Enables students to demonstrate the practical nutrition assessment skills required for their first practice placement.
**Ungraded Hurdle
*If a student has not achieved a mark of ≥ 50% for the graded hurdles, one re-attempt may be offered for each to allow demonstration of an appropriate level of competency. The offer of one re-submission for the Assessment 1 graded hurdle will only be made if the student has also successfully completed the ungraded skills exam hurdle.
**If a student has not successfully completed the ungraded skills exam hurdle, one re-attempt may be offered to allow demonstration of an appropriate level of competency. The offer of one re-sit will only be made if the student has also successfully achieved a mark of ≥ 50% for the Assessment 1 graded hurdle.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
The unit content will be delivered over 12 weeks.
The learning and teaching strategy adopted aligns with the sequencing of the learning outcomes and consists of three phases that are designed to provide students with a developmental learning experience. The unit begins with approaches designed to support acquisition of specialist knowledge needed to understand the cornerstone of individual case management in dietetic practice, the assessment of nutritional status and nutrition management planning, dietary counselling, and provision of food in institutional settings. The approaches used to facilitate students’ learning include online learning modules and readings. The unit then builds on this theoretical knowledge and assists students to develop understanding and then application through practical skills development first through applied tutorials and then case studies and role play. Overall, the approaches used in this unit have a constructively aligned developmental sequence designed to progressively, and logically, support students learning in ways that maximise the perceived (and actual) relevance and value of each stage. As an overarching strategy, this is expected to engender high levels of engagement, efficiency, and effectiveness in students’ study behaviours, and to maximise their learning achievements. This strategy and approaches will allow students to meet the aim, learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit. Learning and teaching approaches will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to participate actively in learning activities.