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BackgroundMonitoring food costs informs governments of the affordability of healthy diets. Many countries have adopted a standardized healthy food basket. The Victorian Healthy Food Basket contains 44 food items necessary to meet the nutritional requirements of four different Australian family types for a fortnight. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to describe the development of a new iPad app as core to the implementation of the Victorian Healthy Food Basket. The app significantly automates the data collection. We evaluate if the new technology enhanced the quality and efficacy of the research. MethodsTime taken for data collection and entry was recorded. Semi-structured evaluative interviews were conducted with five field workers during the pilot of the iPad app. Field workers were familiar with previous manual data collection methods. Qualitative process evaluation data was summarized against key evaluation questions. ResultsField workers reported that using the iPad for data collection resulted in increased data accuracy, time savings, and efficient data management, and was preferred over manual collection. ConclusionsPortable digital devices may be considered to improve and extend data collection in the field of food cost monitoring.

Competency-based assessment is undergoing an evolution with the popularisation of programmatic assessment. Fundamental to programmatic assessment are the attributes and buy-in of the people participating in the system. Our previous research revealed unspoken, yet influential, cultural and relationship dynamics that interact with programmatic assessment to influence success. Pulling at this thread, we conducted secondary analysis of focus groups and interviews (n = 44 supervisors) using the critical lens of Positioning Theory to explore how workplace supervisors experienced and perceived their positioning within programmatic assessment. We found that supervisors positioned themselves in two of three ways. First, supervisors universally positioned themselves as a "Teacher," describing an inherent duty to educate students. Enactment of this position was dichotomous, with some supervisors ascribing a passive and disempowered position onto students while others empowered students by cultivating an egalitarian teaching relationship. Second, two mutually exclusive positions were described--either "Gatekeeper" or "Team Member." Supervisors positioning themselves as Gatekeepers had a duty to protect the community and were vigilant to the detection of inadequate student performance. Programmatic assessment challenged this positioning by reorientating supervisor rights and duties which diminished their perceived authority and led to frustration and resistance. In contrast, "Team Members" enacted a right to make a valuable contribution to programmatic assessment and felt liberated from the burden of assessment, enabling them to assent power shifts towards students and the university. Identifying supervisor positions revealed how programmatic assessment challenged traditional structures and ideologies, impeding success, and provides insights into supporting supervisors in programmatic assessment.

Professional identity impacts the workforce at personal, interpersonal and profession levels however there is a lack of reviews of professional identity research across practising health professionals. To summarise professional identity research in the health professions literature and explore how professional identity is described a scoping review was conducted by searching Medline, Psycinfo, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, and Business Source Complete using "professional identity" and related terms for 32 health professions. Empirical studies of professional identity in post-registration health professionals were examined with health profession, career stage, background to research, theoretical underpinnings and constructs of professional identity being extracted, charted and analysed using content analysis where relevant. From 9941 studies, 160 studies across 17 health professions were identified, with nursing and medicine most common. Twenty studies focussed on professional identity in the five years post-entry to the workforce and 56 studies did not state career stage. The most common background for the research was the impact of political, social and healthcare reforms and advances. Thirty five percent of studies (n = 57) stated the use of a theory or framework of identity, the most common being classified as social theories. Individual constructs of professional identity across the research were categorised into five themes--"The Lived Experience of Professional Identity"; "The World Around Me"; "Belonging"; "Me"; and "Learning and Qualifications." Descriptions of professional identity are broad, varied, rich and multi-layered however the literature is under theorised with current theories potentially inadequate to capture its complexity and make meaningful contributions to the allied health professions.

Setting priorities for higher education research is essential to maximise limited resources. Our study aimed to identify priorities for higher education research at one large research-intensive Australian university. A sequential three-phase mixed methods study was conducted. Phase 1 engaged 69 students, academics, and professional staff in an anonymous qualitative online survey to identify their perspectives on priorities. These qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis and the findings were then converted to a quantitative online survey (phase 2) that engaged 187 students, academics, and professional staff to determine the top priorities and the reasons for their choices. Descriptive statistical analysis of phase 2 Likert scales and rank order of priorities revealed the top three priorities from 39 priorities: (1) understanding how to engage students in learning; (2) understanding how to teach creative and critical thinking skills; and (3) understanding how to promote resilience, wellbeing and student connectedness. In phase 3, five focus groups with 19 participants affirmed these ratings/rankings. Our study is the first to identify research priorities for higher education to our knowledge, and may be used to focus future higher education research strategy.

: Objective: To determine the contexts under which a fresh food market program is cost‐effective in improving dignified access to nutritious food for food‐insecure individuals. Methods: A realist economic evaluation was employed. Purported cost related theories about how the program may function, known as context‐mechanism‐outcome configurations were developed. In‐depth interviews with key stakeholders (program developers, funder, local food relief agencies, volunteers) involved in the program (n=19) as well Photovoice with focus groups with market attendees (n=8) were conducted and coded for contexts, mechanisms and outcomes. A cost‐effectiveness analysis of the program was calculated whereby the cost inputs associated with operating the program were compared to the quantity and value of produce distributed. Alternative cost scenarios were evaluated in a sensitivity analysis. The cost‐effectiveness analysis was used together with qualitative data to refine theory. Results: Food insecure individuals attending a partnership fresh food market with a small fee, experienced improved, yet infrequent access to nutritious food through community connections and support a more dignified, viable access to fresh nutritious food. Conclusions: Food relief should consider alternative models. Implications for public health: More dignified food relief programs that support local connections may be part of the solution to addressing food insecurity., Food insecurity, or the inability to afford or access regular, sufficient, safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food in a socially acceptable way, remains a wicked problem for developed countries.[sup.1] Food [...]

Learning through work is a common feature of preparing health professionals for practice. Current understandings of work-integrated learning or a 'work-based placement', focus on students being consumers of experiences rather than providing a reciprocal benefit to the organisation in which they are placed. More nuanced understanding of the ways that students can offer value to organisations may provide new opportunities and increased capacity for workplace learning. This study drew on Social Exchange Theory to explore the perceived value and benefits of work-integrated learning experiences to the organisations in which students are placed. The focus was on population health placements undertaken by dietetics students at a large Australian university. An interpretive approach was employed with interviews with placement educators and document analysis of student-generated products from their placement. Seventeen of 20 eligible placement educators were interviewed, with interview data coded using thematic framework analysis. These data were supported with document analysis of student scientific posters completed as part of assessment to develop themes which were interpreted with social exchange theory. Three themes were identified: (1) students add to the organisation's capacity, (2) benefits outweigh time cost of planning and supervising and (3) explicitly valuing students for their contributions may build trust and further potentiate bi-directional benefits. Results suggest that student placements can add value to organisations. This reciprocity of benefits should be communicated to all stakeholders involved in the university-community collaboration, including students. Social exchange theory sensitised researchers to nuanced findings that may support the translation of these study findings to other student work-integrated learning settings.

Objective: School-based prevention interventions informed by the World Health Organization Health Promoting School (HPS) framework aim to improve the health and wellbeing of school-aged children, yet few studies describe factors influencing the successful implementation of this framework in secondary schools. This study sought to explore why and how secondary schools might implement the HPS framework and factors contributing to success. Design: Qualitative case study. Setting: A single secondary school in Victoria, Australia, purposefully selected due to local recognition of an HPS policy. Method: Data collection included semi-structured interviews, document retrieval, drawings and ethnographic observation. Data were analysed using framework analysis. Results: The school had elected to implement the policy as it aligned with its existing health and wellbeing policy framework and provided a flexible yet evidence-based framework to guide a whole-of-school approach to promoting health and wellbeing. Success was perceived to be dependent on selecting easier health priority areas to address initially, the allocation of a designated team to guide policy implementation and access to a skilled health promotion worker to assist implementation. Conclusion: Study findings highlight potential reasons why and how secondary schools might implement the HPS framework and factors contributing to success. Further research is warranted to enhance the transferability of these findings and explore the impact of the HPS framework in secondary schools.

Supervision matters: it serves educational, supportive and management functions. Despite a plethora of evidence on the effectiveness of supervision, scant evidence for the impact of supervision training exists. While three previous literature reviews have begun to examine the effectiveness of supervision training, they fail to explore the extent to which supervision training works, for whom, and why. We adopted a realist approach to answer the question: to what extent do supervision training interventions work (or not), for whom and in what circumstances, and why? We conducted a team-based realist synthesis of the supervision training literature focusing on Pawson's five stages: (1) clarifying the scope; (2) determining the search strategy; (3) study selection; (4) data extraction; and (5) data synthesis. We extracted contexts (C), mechanisms (M) and outcomes (O) and CMO configurations from 29 outputs including short (n = 19) and extended-duration (n = 10) supervision training interventions. Irrespective of duration, interventions including mixed pedagogies involving active and/or experiential learning, social learning and protected time served as mechanisms triggering multiple positive supervisor outcomes. Short-duration interventions also led to positive outcomes through mechanisms such as supervisor characteristics, whereas facilitator characteristics was a key mechanism triggering positive and negative outcomes for extended-duration interventions. Disciplinary and organisational contexts were not especially influential. While our realist synthesis builds on previous non-realist literature reviews, our findings extend previous work considerably. Our realist synthesis presents a broader array of outcomes and mechanisms than have been previously identified, and provides novel insights into the causal pathways in which short and extended-duration supervision training interventions produce their effects. Future realist evaluation should explore further any differences between short and extended-duration interventions. Educators are encouraged to prioritize mixed pedagogies, social learning and protected time to maximize the positive supervisor outcomes from training.

AbstractGovernment, organizational, and professional society policies are part of the complex system that underpins and influences the education of health professionals. Despite their significant influence, these policies rarely receive attention in scholarship examining the processes and outcomes of current health profession education systems. Policy analysis is a field of research that examines how and why policies are developed, the assumptions underpinning policies, and policies’ effects. Given the potential value policy analysis can offer health professions education research, our manuscript aims to 1) describe policy analysis as a field of research that draws on multiple disciplines and methodologies, and 2) demonstrate and discuss what policy analysis research can contribute to health professions education by sharing examples of two studies and discussing their value. To explain how policy analysis can be applied in health professions education research, we describe four key steps and considerations for using policy analysis– (i) assemble your research team; (ii) develop the research questions; (iii) select the methodology for the policy analysis; and (iv) select methods for data collection and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Objective structured clinical examinations have long been used in dietetics education. This observational study aims to describe the development, deployment, feasibility and validity of assessment using an oral interview in place of traditional objective structured clinical examinations, and to determine the ability of this assessment to identify students who are either not ready for placement or may require early support and/or remediation. Methods: Student assessment data were collected over a two‐and‐a‐half‐year period and used to test the predictive ability of an oral interview to determine dietetic placement outcomes and highlight a need for early remediation. Descriptive statistics as well as a between‐group one‐way ANOVA was used to describe results. Results: A total of 169 students participated in the oral interview and subsequent medical nutrition therapy placement over the study period. Significant differences in oral interview score were seen between students who passed placement and students who passed with remediation or those who failed. Oral interview performance was able to predict placement outcome, yet required less resources than traditional objective structured clinical examinations. Conclusion: An oral interview may provide the same utility as the objective structured clinical examination in dietetics education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To test a model of malnutrition screening and assessment conducted by dietetics students on placement in residential aged care facilities. The secondary aim was to identify possible facilitators and barriers to the implementation of the model. Method: The type 1 hybrid effectiveness‐implementation trial study design and reporting outcomes were developed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. An innovative placement model was developed, where students on voluntary placement visited three residential aged care facilities to identify residents at risk of malnutrition using currently available screening tools for older people. Students completed malnutrition assessments for all residents using the subjective global assessment tool. Results: Thirty‐two students participated; 31 completed all three sessions, with malnutrition screening completed for 207 residents and malnutrition assessment for 187 residents (July and September 2022). Based on the subjective global assessment, 31% (n = 57) of residents were mildly/moderately malnourished, and 3% (n = 5) were severely malnourished. The Innovation Domain of the Framework was the most important consideration before implementation. Conclusion: Whilst previous research documented student learning opportunities in residential aged care facilities, this study provides the first available evidence of the direct contribution students can make to the health of aged care residents through malnutrition screening and assessment. The model enables students to conduct malnutrition screening and assessment feasibly and efficiently in facilities that do not routinely collate and act on these data. With a limited nursing aged care workforce to undertake this vital task, the potential role of student dietitians to fulfil this role must be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Competency-based assessment (CBA) supports the development and attainment of skills required for the workforce. Little is known about educators' experience in developing or implementing CBA in nutrition science education or their opinions on how well it captures a student's preparedness for the workforce. The objective of this study was to explore educators' experience of CBA in nutrition education in Ireland. Method: Grounded in interpretivism, in-depth, semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews were conducted with 13 educators from five of the ten undergraduate honours degree nutrition programmes across Ireland. Interviews explored experiences of CBA and perception of students training to prepare for the workforce. A reflexive thematic analysis approach was implemented whereby the data were transcribed, inductively coded, and themes identified. Results: A clear divide was evident between participants who were confident in their understanding of CBA and those who were unsure or had no knowledge of the term. Those with a clear understanding were more involved in programme development and evaluation. Three themes were identified: 'Assessment process' including intended learning outcomes, assessment design, and grading systems, 'Student-centred approach to assessment' focusing on work-based assessment and preparation for the workforce, and 'Upskilling educators' to equip educators with the skills and knowledge for professional development and to foster student success. Conclusion: The importance of CBA as a student-centred approach, supporting them to meet standards expected to practice as a nutrition professional, was the key experience of educators. Training in CBA and inclusion of more authentic assessment may better prepare students for the workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]