Table 2.
Participants’ professional experiences providing telenutrition prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Prior to COVID-19 Pandemic | Mean ± SD | |
|---|---|---|
| Hours per week providing face-to-face nutrition care (n = 417) ≠ | 22.3 ± 12 | |
| Years of experience providing nutrition care via telehealth (n = 70) | 4.7 ± 5 | |
| During the COVID-19 pandemic | n | % |
| Targets of patients via telenutrition | ||
| Individuals | 216 | 78.5 |
| Groups | 12 | 4.4 |
| Both individuals and groups | 47 | 17.1 |
| Current modalities used to provide telenutrition | ||
| Telephone (audio only) | 47 | 17.1 |
| Audiovisual | 129 | 46.9 |
| Both telephone and audiovisual | 89 | 32.4 |
| Other § | 10 | 3.6 |
| Audiovisual options used to provide telenutrition | ||
| Audiovisual capability built into the electronic health record | 7 | 2.5 |
| Google Meet | 65 | 23.6 |
| Lifesize | 6 | 2.2 |
| Teams/Cisco WebEx Meetings/WebEx Teams | 23 | 8.4 |
| Zoom | 5 | 1.8 |
| Zoom/Google/Teams/Skype | 77 | 28.0 |
| 23 | 8.4 | |
| WhatsApp, Skype | 12 | 4.4 |
| Healthcare specialized platforms | 14 | 5.1 |
| Other # | 43 | 15.6 |
| Types of nutrition assessment and/or monitoring and evaluation conducted via telehealth * | ||
| Self-reported body measurements | 173 | 62.9 |
| Food and nutrition assessment | 233 | 84.7 |
| Evaluation of knowledge/beliefs/attitudes | 184 | 66.9 |
| Nutritional history | 227 | 82.5 |
| Behaviors | 34 | 12.4 |
| Assessment/monitoring tools | 30 | 10.9 |
| Physical activity and function | 171 | 62.2 |
| Biochemical data | 11 | 4.0 |
| Types of nutrition interventions provided via telehealth * | ||
| Coordination of nutrition care | 30 | 10.9 |
| Nutrition counseling | 220 | 80.0 |
| Nutrition education | 215 | 78.2 |
| Nutrition prescription | 109 | 39.6 |
| Nutrition supplementation | 39 | 14.2 |
| Enteral and parenteral nutrition | 27 | 9.8 |
| Groups of population-based nutrition action | 44 | 16.0 |
| No intervention | 10 | 3.6 |
| Critical issues encountered in patients during telenutrition * | ||
| Unhealthy eating habits | 10 | 3.6 |
| Eating disorders | 37 | 13.5 |
| Obstacles to care access | 5 | 1.8 |
| Emotional eating | 2 | 0.7 |
| Emotional frailty, fear, anxiety, stress, depression | 38 | 13.8 |
| Weight gain | 91 | 33.1 |
| Malnutrition | 5 | 1.8 |
| Redaction of economic possibilities | 8 | 2.9 |
| Poor compliance | 17 | 6.2 |
| Sedentary lifestyle | 44 | 16.0 |
| None | 16 | 5.8 |
≠ RDNs (n = 19) reported zero hours per week providing face-to-face nutrition care because they were already doing telenutrition. § Other: telephone and email; # Other: healthcare-specialized platforms. * Participants (n = 275) were able to select all options that applied.