Self-perceived nutrition competence of primary care physicians in Singapore: a cross-sectional study

Poor diet is a major contributing factor to the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases. There is a need for effective nutrition care in primary care that manages the bulk of such diseases. This study aimed to describe the self-perceived nutrition competence of primary care physicians (PCPs) in Singapore and to evaluate the associated factors.

A cross-sectional study utilizing an anonymous online survey platform was conducted among PCPs from a public primary care institution in Singapore. We collected data on PCPs' sociodemographic information, previous nutrition education and personal dietary habits, and measured self-perceived nutrition competence using the NUTrition COMPetence (NUTCOMP) questionnaire. Multivariable linear regression was conducted to examine the association between PCPs' characteristics with their self-perceived nutrition competence.

Totally, 153 PCPs (45.9%) completed the survey in full. Among the four NUTCOMP constructs, 'nutrition knowledge' (2.8 ± 0.6) and 'nutrition skills' (2.9 ± 0.6) had the lowest mean scores followed by 'nutrition communication and counselling' (3.1 ± 0.6) and 'attitudes towards providing nutrition care' (4.3 ± 0.5). PCPs with formal nutrition training had significantly higher NUTCOMP scores compared with those without (β = 10.76, 95%CI:4.57-16.94), and those with 5 to 9 years and more than 10 years of work experience had significantly higher scores than those with less than 5 years (β = 7.62, 95%CI:0.44-14.81, and β = 9.44, 95%CI:2.85-16.04, respectively).

PCPs had lowest self-perceived confidence in nutrition knowledge and skills. Previous formal nutrition education and a longer primary care work experience were associated with better self-perceived nutrition competence. Future research to better integrate nutrition competencies into formal education programmes may be useful to improve PCPs' self-perceived nutrition competence.