Compassion in Dietetic Practice: Perceptions of Graduate Nutrition Students

Area of Science:

• Nutrition and Dietetics
• Qualitative Research
• Professional Identity

Background:

• Compassion is a key element in healthcare, influencing patient-provider relationships.
• Understanding how compassion is enacted in dietetic practice is crucial for effective patient care.
• Existing research often overlooks the contextual factors influencing compassion in dietetics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the construction and understanding of compassion in dietetic practice.
• To examine how graduate nutrition students and recent graduates position compassion within their professional identities.
• To analyze the discursive elements of compassion in everyday nutrition and dietetic work.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured qualitative interviews with 17 participants.
• Six-step thematic analysis to identify patterns in compassion.
• Participant member checking to validate findings.

Main Results:

• Compassion is enacted through attentiveness, non-judgment, and accountability within constraints.
• It functions as both a relational practice and a form of professional regulation.
• Themes included manifestations and consequences of compassion and its lack, alongside self-compassion.

Conclusions:

• Compassion in dietetics is shaped by professionalism, care, and institutional efficiency discourses.
• It is not a fixed personal quality but relational work influenced by context, power, and resources.
• Findings can inform educational and organizational strategies to better support compassionate dietetic practice.