The nutrition information needs of New Zealand general practitioners

A random sample of 1000 New Zealand general practitioners were selected to participate in a survey of their nutrition information needs. Three short questionnaires were administered, one to each third of the sample. The response rate was 78%. The results from the first questionnaire will be reported in this paper. The main findings from this subsample showed that most general practitioners wanted more information about a wide variety of nutrition issues (e.g. food allergies, dietary counselling techniques, weight loss, diabetes). Most relied on a variety of sources of nutrition information including several nutritionally unorthodox sources (e.g. the drug industry). Time sparing sources of nutrition information which were favoured by large majorities included text books, videos, seminars and leaflets, charts, specimen diet sheets and diet diaries for patients. The findings are discussed in relation to the time and knowledge limitations of general practitioners and their implications for nutrition promotion.