Exploring the current working profiles of nutritional therapists to inform curriculum and professional development

IntroductionNutritional therapy (NT) since the mid-1980s has undergone a process of professional, regulatory and educational development. To inform the continuance of this process the Nutritional Therapy Education Commission (NTEC) initiated an exploration of practitioner profiles.The aim was to ensure NTEC are meeting these developmental requirements by: informing a revised Core Curriculum; ensuring an evidence-based approach to professional training; establishing appropriateness of 'fit' between qualification and subsequent occupation and clarifying possible barriers to, or reasons for non-continuance of practice.MethodsAn anonymous online survey recruited 408 qualified nutritional therapists in the UK, Numerical data were analysed descriptively and statistically using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science).ResultsThe majority of the respondents were female, aged between 31 and 50 years and working part time, in self-employed clinical practice; almost a third of these earning a primary income. The current training provision appears to be adequate, however further training needs were identified. Barriers to practice maybe income driven or personal for a minority, however further research is needed.The majority were registered with the voluntary regulator and were members of a professional body with a range of continuing professional development strategies. Functional medicine approaches were reported to be widely incorporated into practice and awareness of the role of nutrigenomics was common, but clinical application of nutrigenetic testing was less widespread.ConclusionThe findings suggest that in the captured population current NT education and professional provision results in clinical practice however there are areas for further development.