Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol 16, Issue 5 439-442, Copyright © 1997 by American College of Nutrition

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice among primary care physicians in Taiwan

S. P. Hu, M. Y. Wu and J. F. Liu
Department of Nutrition and Health Science, Taipei Medical College, Taiwan, R.O.C.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate nutritional knowledge, attitude and practices among primary care physicians in the Taiwan area. METHOD: A closed-end questionnaire containing 26 knowledge questions, 12 attitude statements and 12 practice statements was mailed to physicians on the mailing list of the National Health Administration (NHA). RESULTS: The data reported are based on the responses of 27% of the total 1210 primary care physicians in the Taiwan area. Physicians answered 59% of the total knowledge questions correctly, with a tendency to score higher on general knowledge than clinical nutrition. The majority of physicians tended to agree with the positive-attitude statements and disagree with the negative-attitude statements. The performance of physicians regarding personal practices was less than that for job-related practices. CONCLUSIONS: This nationwide survey of nutrition-related knowledge and practices demonstrates the need for nutrition education for physicians. The questionnaire may be a useful instrument for future educational strategies in Taiwan.