The affective domain: behaviors important in entry-level practice

Affective behaviors, those associated with attitudes, beliefs, and values, were identified by a Delphi panel of dietetic experts. Statements converged through four rounds into a set of behaviors categorized into five components: human, technical, conceptual, personal, and professional. One group of registered dietitians rated each of these statements from most to least important within each component. Another group rated each statement using the scale 1 = absolutely essential to 4 = not of concern. Mean rankings within each of the five components tended to have a small range. Mean ratings of the statements indicated respondents considered all of the behaviors to be essential or at least important. For an additional analysis, ratings of statements were subjected to principal components analysis. Inspection of the varimax-rotated factor matrix revealed that all but 1 of the 41 behavior statements could be grouped in an additional way to yield six internally consistent scales: initiative/flexibility, professional commitment, interpersonal, personal responsibility, leadership, and personal commitment. Additional research should be done to determine the practicality of utilizing these behavior statements to evaluate the performance of dietitians both at the entry level and at more advanced levels.