ArticleBMJ open2020
Nutrition competence of primary care physicians in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nutrition education and its public health impact in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Association between sources of nutrition information and self-perceived nutrition competence of healthcare professionals: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Trends of consultation time, waiting time, and satisfaction in family medicine/primary health care centers in Saudi Arabia: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Review
- Enhancing Nutrition Care in Primary Healthcare: Exploring Practices, Barriers, and Multidisciplinary Solutions in Ireland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Assessment of Knowledge of Celiac Disease and Associated Conditions Among Dietitians in Jordan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Self-perceived nutrition competence of primary care physicians in Singapore: a cross-sectional study.Primary health care research & development · 2025Article
- Level of nutrition competencies among healthcare professionals and medical students in Kazakhstan.BMJ nutrition, prevention & health · 2025Article
- Review
- [Nutrition counseling in medical practices-a cross-sectional study].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2024Article
- Self-Perceived Nutritional Competency of Primary Healthcare Physicians in Qassim, Saudi Arabia.Cureus · 2024Article
- Perception of Nutrition Education and Subjective Competency in Nutrition Topics among Korean Family Medicine Residents.Korean journal of family medicine · 2024Article
- Comparison of nutrition care services for adult obesity at primary care in two different periods in Saudi Arabia.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- Healthy lifestyle counseling, and barriers perceived by general practitioners in Poland.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- An exploration of the self-perceived nutrition competencies of pharmacists.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2022Article
- Nutritional Knowledge, Confidence, Attitudes towards Nutritional Care and Nutrition Counselling Practice among General Practitioners.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Knowledge of Medical Students and Medical Professionals Regarding Nutritional Deficiencies in Patients with Celiac Disease.Nutrients · 2021Article
- How does self-perceived nutrition competence change over time during medical training? A prospective longitudinal observational study of New Zealand medical students.BMJ nutrition, prevention & health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesPrimary care physicians have an opportunity to support healthy dietary behaviours of patients by providing nutrition care. However, it is unclear whether primary care physicians in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are sufficiently competent in nutrition. This study aimed to assess the nutrition competence of primary care physicians in KSA and identify whether nutrition competence is associated with the provision of nutrition care to patients living with diet-related chronic disease.
designA cross-sectional study.
settingChronic disease clinics across 48 primary care centres under the Ministry of Health in the city of Jeddah, KSA.
participants90 primary care physicians completed the survey (response rate: 98%). General practitioners and family medicine residents, specialists, and consultants actively working in chronic disease clinics between February and May 2019 were included. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measure was nutrition competence of primary care physicians measured via the validated NUTCOMP (nutrition competence) questionnaire.
resultsPrimary care physicians perceived themselves as competent in nutrition care but their reported provision of nutrition care was limited. Confidence in their nutrition knowledge and skills elicited the lowest mean scores of 25.8 (±5.4) out of 35 and 29 (±5.2) out of 40, respectively. The reported provision of nutrition care was closely correlated with physicians' confidence in their nutrition knowledge (r=0.57) and communication (r=0.52). Three factors were identified as predicting whether physicians provide nutrition care to patients: confidence in counselling about nutrition (p<0.001), having previous nutrition education (p=0.005) and a higher professional qualification (p=0.008).
conclusionsPrimary care physicians felt confident in providing nutrition care to patients living with diet-related chronic disease. Primary care physicians would benefit from higher levels of nutrition knowledge and skills to effectively support patients to improve their dietary behaviours and health conditions, leading to a positive impact on public health.
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