Noneconomic and economic benefits of continuing education for dietitians.

This research evaluated the expected and actual noneconomic and economic benefits from continuing education as perceived by registered dietitian members of the Kansas Dietetic Association in 1986. A random sample of 180 dietitians was selected from the 550 members of the association; 83.9% of the sample responded to the research questionnaire. Thirteen possible noneconomic or personal benefits and six possible economic or professional benefits were rated on a scale of 1, little or no benefit, to 5, great benefit. The highest ratings on noneconomic benefits were 4.43 expected and 3.95 actual on the benefit of "becoming informed about some subject". On economic benefits, the highest ratings were 4.36 expected and 3.82 actual on "learning recent job knowledge." The overall noneconomic ratings were 2.85 expected and 2.78 actual. On economic benefits, the overall ratings were 3.46 expected and 3.07 actual. Dietitians ranked "expertise of instructors" and "instructor's ability to explain or demonstrate" as the two highest perceived strengths of the continuing education experience. Obviously, the instructor is viewed as an important factor in continuing education. Dietitians rated their degree of participation in continuing experiences in the following descending order: "contributing to the evaluation process", "sharing experiences with others," and "developing goals and ideas."