The First Assesment of Celiac Disease Knowledge among Kuwaiti Nutritionists through a Validated KAP Model

Registered dietitians /nutritionists play a crucial role in the management of celiac disease (CD). The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge of nutritionists working with CD patients in Kuwait, which has lately been witnessing increased incidence of this disease. A convenient cross-sectional sample of 156 nutritionists from both genders, different age groups, educational levels and experience working in different hospitals and health centers in Kuwait was recruited. To assess their knowledge and practice, a self-administered validated questionnaire was used. Descriptive data analyses were performed using SPSS program. Results of 141 respondents (90% response rate) indicated that nutritionists holding university degrees had highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) higher mean knowledge scores about CD than those holding a diploma degree (9.9 ± 1.3 and 9.3 ± 1.3 vs 8.7± 1.4, out of 14 respectively). It also indicated that ‎gender, geographic area and/or experience had no significant effects (P > 0.05) on the overall mean ‎knowledge scores of the respondents albeit males had higher, though non-significant (P>0.05) mean scores than females in some geographic areas.‎The age of nutritionists had no effect on their knowledge scores despite the longer experience older ones have. The results also indicated that although most nutritionists seem to be well aware of the causes(99.3 %), treatment (98.6%), diagnosis (61%) and complications(78.7%) associated with CD, the majority of them confused it with wheat allergy (78% vs. 22%; P ≤ 0.01). Nutritionists' knowledge about “Unsafe Ingredients” in the celiac diet information card” was successfully answered by only 6.4% of the participants, whereas 81.6% of them were not sure (p < 0.05). Results of the study emphasize the need for continued-structured education programs for the Kuwaiti nutritionists working with CD patients in all areas related to CD.