Dietary Management Practices for Diabetes by Dietitians in Public Hospitals in Limpopo Province, South Africa

The aim of the study was to investigate dietary management practices of dietitians for type 2 diabetic patients in public hospitals of Limpopo province. The study design was descriptive with an analytical component and used quantitative and qualitative methods. The sample consisted of 30 dietitians and 24 patients from 30 hospitals. Selfreported questionnaires were used for all participating hospitals, 12 of which were visited by the researcher for observation and to interview patients using a structured questionnaire. The researcher used checklist to record observations on menus and diet sheets. Thematic analysis was used to organise the responses from qualitative data following the spiral method described by Creswell. Frequencies and percentages were used to report quantitative data. The majority (71.4%) of dietitians did not use scientific sources and calculations when prescribing diets. Only 9.5% of dietitians used the glycaemic index concept, 52.4% used foods to avoid/allowed lists, 66.7% used food-service aids to prepare diabetic meals and 71.4% used the plate system for serving food. The dietitians used a variety of procedures when counselling patients and no standard nutrition educational materials existed in the province. In Limpopo province, dietitians employed different dietary management approaches in the dietary treatment of type 2 diabetic patients.