Background

A healthy and balanced diet is a prerequisite for keeping many non-transmissible diseases at bay. Therefore, dieticians make an invaluable contribution to reduce the pressure on the health care systems. Along with the implementation of primary health care centres in Lower Austria a new field of activity was created for dieticians. This new role includes counselling, training, and accompanying people with nutrition-related diseases or diseases that can be prevented by changing one’s eating habits.

Project content and goals

Dieticians in primary health care centres are usually fully stretched in directly interacting with their patients. Hence, there is not enough time left to create consultation materials that would help them to carry out their tasks. To support the work of the dieticians and maintain the high quality of their services, the degree programme dietetics and the Institute for Health Sciences (both located at the University of applied sciences St.Pölten) developed such consultation material. The contents are based on latest research and presented in a comprehensible and appealing way. The consultation material is not only available for those working at the primary health care centres but for other dieticians as well (see below). 

Methods

On behalf of the PVZ St.Pölten Harland and the PVZ Böheimkirchen a group of students at the FH St.Pölten researched the standard of knowledge on wholesome nutrition. In close coordination with the dieticians working at the primary health care centres, they then thought about ways to turn this knowledge into illustrative material that supports dieticians in their daily work. The result of this process was the healthy eating plate model, which became a cornerstone of this illustrative material (i.e., portions of different food groups presented on a plate). The plate model demonstrates in a comprehensible way what a healthy meal should look like. In addition, two bachelor students created information material (i.e., table tents) on common food intolerances. A graphic designer helped to make the research content visually appealing. 

Results

Healthy eating plate

Based on current research on healthy nutrition a team of the FH St.Pölten developed consultation material for dieticians. The plate model is designed for the use during consultations and is to be handed out to patients to serve as a reminder (e.g., by pinning it to the fridge). The front page shows a healthily composed meal plate surrounded by foods grouped according to their main macronutrient content. The healthy eating plate gives an overview about the food groups a meal should contain (50 % vegetables and fruit, 25 % carbohydrate sources and 25 % protein sources)  in an appealing and easy to understand manner. Detailed information on the portion sizes (i.e., in gram but also tablespoons etc.) can be found on the back.

Table tent providing information about food intolerances

People suffering from food intolerances are often exposed to a flood of information by different media channels. This makes it difficult to recognize what is relevant and pick the information that meets one’s needs. For this reason advisory material in form of table tents was developed. The table tents inform about fructose malabsorption, histamine and lactose intolerance, and wheat sensitivity. They are about ten pages long and designed to serve as  guide accompanying dietician/patient consultations. The contents are presented in a coherent and appealing manner.

Consultation material is free of charge and can be ordered by dieticians at beratungstool@fhstp.ac.at.

The project was funded by the Lower Austrian Healthcare and Social Fund (NÖGUS) and carried out in collaboration with PVZ St. Pölten Harland and PVZ Böheimkirchen.