How practice meets guidelines: evaluation of nutrition counselling in Finnish well-women and well-baby clinics.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the current practices of nutrition counselling given by nurses in well-women (WW) and well-baby (WB) clinics in Finland.


METHODS
A semi-structured questionnaire was distributed to nurses and their clients in clinics nationwide.


METHODS
The source and the quality of nutrition counselling and specific conditions including allergic diseases and vitamin D supplementation.


RESULTS
The clinics constituted the most important source of information for the clients. Personal counselling was highly appreciated. However, 83% of pregnant women reported having received dietary counselling, which deviates from the figure reported by nurses (99%, p=0.0003). Counselling concerning allergies was targeted to reduce the risk of infant allergy by means of elimination diets. In contrast to the report of the nurses (60% in WW and 18% in WB clinics), only 16% (p<0.0001) of the pregnant and 7% (p=0.022) of the breastfeeding women reported that they had been advised to use vitamin D supplements during the winter season.


CONCLUSIONS
This study calls for co-operation between scientists, governmental policy makers and healthcare professionals to ensure a continuous chain of information, applicable to nutrition counselling, from scientific data to everyday practice.
Huurre
Anu
A
Department of Paediatrics, Turku University Central Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland. anu.huurre@utu.fi
Laitinen
Kirsi
K
Hoppu
Ulla
U
Isolauri
Erika
E
D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences; D003376:Counseling; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007224:Infant Care; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers; D016389:Maternal-Child Nursing / Q000379:methods; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires