Exploring professionalism and sociocultural factors in dietetic education in Australia and New Zealand

This PhD has explored professionalism in the healthcare discipline of dietetics, and sociocultural factors within learning environments that influence how professionalism is taught, learnt and assessed and the transition from student to dietitian. A qualitative inquiry approach was employed and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 100 academics, practitioner educators and students across Australia and New Zealand. This work has developed frameworks, including a novel verbatim theatre screenplay to support teaching, learning and assessment of dietetics professionalism, and has highlighted the attention required to social and cultural elements in dietetic education.