Knowledge Systems, Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town 8000, South Africa.
Public Health Nutr. 2011 Aug;14(8):1429-38. doi: 10.1017/S1368980009993272. Epub 2010 Jan 28.
The present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and practices of public-sector primary-care health professionals and final-year students regarding the role of nutrition, physical activity and smoking cessation (lifestyle modification) in the management of chronic diseases of lifestyle within the public health-care sector.
A comparative cross-sectional descriptive quantitative study was conducted in thirty primary health-care facilities and four tertiary institutions offering medical and/or nursing programmes in Cape Town in the Western Cape Metropole. Stratified random sampling, based on geographical location, was used to select the health facilities while convenience sampling was used to select students at the tertiary institutions. A validated self-administered knowledge test was used to obtain data from the health professionals.
Differential lifestyle modification knowledge exists among both health professionals and students, with less than 10 % achieving the desired scores of 80 % or higher. The majority of health professionals seem to be promoting the theoretical concepts of lifestyle modification but experience difficulty in providing practical advice to patients. Of the health professionals evaluated, doctors appeared to have the best knowledge of lifestyle modification. Lack of time, lack of patient adherence and language barriers were given as the main barriers to providing lifestyle counselling.
The undergraduate curricula of medical and nursing students should include sufficient training on lifestyle modification, particularly practical advice on diet, physical activity and smoking cessation. Health professionals working at primary health-care facilities should be updated by providing lifestyle modification education as part of continuing medical education.
本研究旨在评估公共部门初级保健卫生专业人员和医学/护理专业的大四学生对营养、体力活动和戒烟（生活方式改变）在公共卫生保健部门管理生活方式慢性病方面的作用的知识和实践。
在西开普省开普敦的 30 个初级保健设施和 4 个提供医学和/或护理课程的三级机构中进行了一项比较性横断面描述性定量研究。基于地理位置的分层随机抽样用于选择卫生设施，而便利抽样用于选择三级机构的学生。使用经过验证的自我管理知识测试从卫生专业人员那里获取数据。
卫生专业人员和学生之间存在不同的生活方式改变知识，只有不到 10%的人达到了 80%或更高的理想分数。大多数卫生专业人员似乎在宣传生活方式改变的理论概念，但在向患者提供实际建议方面存在困难。在所评估的卫生专业人员中，医生似乎对生活方式改变的知识掌握得最好。缺乏时间、缺乏患者依从性和语言障碍被认为是提供生活方式咨询的主要障碍。
医学和护理专业的本科生课程应包括足够的生活方式改变培训，特别是关于饮食、体力活动和戒烟的实际建议。应通过提供生活方式改变教育作为继续医学教育的一部分，为初级保健设施的卫生专业人员提供最新信息。
