Exploring the Likelihood of Healthcare Students to Advise Patients on the Health Benefits of Predominantly Plant-Based Diets

Abstract

The aim of this study was to survey select healthcare students in the Americas about their likelihood to advise on health benefits of predominantly plant-based diets to noncommunicable disease patients; and to identify possible demographic, academic, and psychographic associations and predictors. The study design included targeted questions from a validated electronic questionnaire which was administered to a convenience sample of nursing and dietetics students across four university campus sites located in a region with high NCD burden. Descriptive, Chi-square, and binary logistic regression analyses were used to examine ordinally or dichotomously coded demographic, knowledge, and attitude variables for frequencies, likelihood associations, and predictors . Sixty-eight percent (n = 202) indicated likelihood. Females were more likely than males to respond affirmatively (χ 2 = 4.56, P = 0.03), and students with higher knowledge scores were more likely to advise on health benefits of plant-based diets than those with lower scores (χ 2 = 4.48, P = 0.03). Gender and knowledge emerged as significant predictors. These findings demonstrate that the likelihood for nursing and dietetics students to advise patients on the benefits of predominantly plant-based diets in noncommunicable chronic disease care is high. This has important implications for lifestyle medicine.