Childhood Obesity Training Needs Assessment Survey

The Sláintecare Childhood Obesity Education Project Team would like to thank the 790 responders who completed our Training Needs Assessment Survey which is now closed. This survey was designed to assess the attitudes, needs and confidence of health professionals in Ireland in addressing childhood obesity. The findings of this survey will be used to design and develop an online childhood obesity training course informed by clinical guidelines for health professionals and deliver this free of charge to Irish health professionals.

This survey was disseminated from July 2020 at events including the RCPI Obesity Summer School (August 2020) and ECOICO2020 (September 2020). It was also circulated through written and electronic communications to professional bodies and organisations representing the various multidiscipline professions and through online platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn and relevant organisation websites and newsletters.

Image 1 below conveys the total number (n=) and the overall percentage of respondents from various healthcare disciplines who completed the survey. Nurses at 21% (n=132) have contributed the most responses to the survey, followed by physiotherapists at 16% (n=103), other at 13% (n=81), Physician/doctor self-employed e.g.GP at 11% (n=71),  dietitians at 10% (n=66), physician/doctor employed by the HSE at 8% (n=52), occupational therapists at 5% (n=34), psychologists at 5% (n=29), clinical manager at 4% (n=28), clinical psychologists at 2% (n=14), social workers at 2% (n=12), speech and language therapists at 1% (n=7) and administrators at 1% (n=4). Other includes pharmacists, psychotherapists, dental surgeons, dentists, orthodontists, primary healthcare coordinators, health promotion officers, mental health coordinators, community health workers, environmental health officers, family support workers and paediatric researchers.