Professionalization and the dietitian

Professionalization as a process is reviewed and characteristics an occupation acquires as it becomes professionalized are outlined. Those attributes include founding a professional association with membership requirements to exclude the unqualified; control of education and admission to the profession by current members, frequently working through the professional organization; possible licensure or certification as a prerequisite to practice; a name change to provide enhanced status or prestige; and elaboration of an altruistic, service-oriented code of ethics. Relevant developments in dietetics and the history of The American Dietetic Association are then compared with this model. Advances have been and continue to be made in the above areas as the professionalization of dietetics and the dietitian progresses.