Table 4.

Barriers to provision of nutritional counselling perceived by general practitioners.

Barriers
Time constraints
Lack of nutritional education, knowledge, training and counselling skills
Negative perception of the importance of nutrition
Low interest in nutrition
Lacking definitions of the precise scope of responsibilities of health care professionals in approaching nutritional counselling
Patient’s lack of adherence to dietary advice and motivation to follow the advice
Unavailability of nutrition-related educational materials for patients
Limited access to the resources that contain necessary information, objectives and guides for nutritional counselling for healthcare practitioners
General practitioners not adhering to their own advice
Inadequate reimbursement and lack of financial incentives
Absence of suitable guidelines and/or protocols
Cultural differences and language barriers
Different subjective values towards nutrition and health between male and female general practitioners