Sarah J Burkhart

Opportunities exist for nutrition and dietetic (N&D) professionals to contribute to sustainable development and support actions towards the attainment of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SGD's). Students undertaking higher education are well-placed to develop skills and capabilities in creative and critical problem solving for sustainability. However, there is limited literature exploring nutrition and dietetic students' perceptions of sustainability that would help to inform an e ective and constructively aligned embedding of sustainability content and active learning opportunities into curriculum. This descriptive cohort study design utilised a 17-question online survey to explore 95 Australian N&D undergraduate students' self-reported familiarity with and perceived importance of sustainability and related concepts, and view of sustainability for future practice. Participants reported being more familiar with the term environmental sustainability and related concepts than economic or social sustainability. Varying levels of familiarity of 42 sustainability related concepts within economic resilience, environmental integrity, social development and cross-cutting issues were reported. Most participants (82%, n = 78) reported sustainability was very important in general (82%, n = 78), and for professional practice (63%, n = 60). Over half of the participants identified government led initiatives to address the future of society (65%, n = 71). Our study highlights the complexity of sustainability in a discipline specific context and the need for understanding students' perceptions of sustainability to inform N&D curriculum design.

Nutrition and dietetic (N&D) education is traditionally taught didactically; however, the flipped classroom approach (FCA) is an emerging pedagogical approach in this discipline. Technological tools providing cognitive support enhance learning, particularly when students are engaged. In N&D education, students have reported the FCA as engaging; however, evidence for how best to integrate technologies into the FCA is limited. The aim of this research is to explore undergraduate nutrition and dietetic students' self-reported perceptions of the use of a digital workbook in nutrition courses designed and delivered using an FCA. A cross-sectional self-administered online survey was utilised to investigate Australian undergraduate student (N = 39) satisfaction, frequency of use, engagement with, and usefulness of a digital workbook. Most students (87%) were satisfied/very satisfied with the digital workbook as a tool for learning, applying and consolidating/revising course content. Most students (95%) agreed the digital workbook was engaging, providing comments related to workbook design, encouraged participation and novelty. Most useful aspects reported were workbook structure, development of a learning artefact, self-directed aspects and convenience, whereas, least useful aspects included technological issues. The use of a digital workbook in N&D education was well received and is an innovative approach to delivering courses taught with an FCA.

Objective: To explore undergraduate students self-reported learning experience in a foundation nutrition education course/unit delivered using a flipped classroom approach (FCA), which requires students to complete independent learning before and after interactive in-class learning experiences. Methods: A descriptive cohort study design used selected items from a self-report flipped classroom student engagement questionnaire to assess Australian undergraduate student (n = 105) engagement in the course/unit and compared with nonflipped courses, preference for FCA, academic achievement, learning behaviors for 3 FCA learning phases, and more or less engaging aspects of the course/unit. Results: Most (66.5%) students were engaged or very engaged, with half (55%) more engaged in this course/unit compared with other nonflipped courses/units with a preference for the FCA (53%). Almost half of the students agreed the FCA improved their academic performance (grade) (45%) and other academic skills (ie, teamwork) (48.5%). Most student comments related to the value of participate phase activities. Conclusions and Implications: The FCA engaged most students in learning and is an emerging learning and teaching approach appropriate for undergraduate nutrition dietetic education.

Communities across the Pacific are being challenged by the impacts of climate change. Attaining food and nutrition security goals is also a priority for the region, particularly in relation to improving dietary quality and reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases. Addressing these challenges requires context-specific research that incorporates a realistic understanding of the links between drivers of change, food systems, and how these influence diets and health. Using a case study approach, this study explores links between climate hazards, food systems, and diets in remote coastal villages of Fiji. Livelihood transitions and climate hazards explain why households have become less reliant on local fisheries and agriculture for their dietary needs. Most households are routinely consuming only locally sourced food items from four food groups, meaning dietary diversity is low. In addition, diets are shifting and now include significant quantities of energy-dense processed (imported) foods with lower nutritional value. The study highlights the importance of increasing availability of fruits and vegetables, mainly through local production, and diversifying sustainable sources of animal protein as strategies to increase diet quality. These communities are already implementing strategies to adapt to climate change, yet this study underscores the need to link climate adaptation with changes to food systems and diets, in ways that allow livelihoods to be sustained and the quality of life of rural dwellers to improve.

Ongoing dietary transitions in the Solomon Islands has resulted in an over-reliance on commercially sourced foods, leading to food insecurity, and a subsequent rise in multiple forms of malnutrition. The aim of this study was to investigate the individual dietary diversity and food preferences of the adult population living in Auki, Solomon Islands. A cross-sectional study involving 133 adults was undertaken in the Auki district via an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Individual dietary diversity scores (DDS) were determined based on the results of a 24-h recall method. Overall mean DDS was 7.27 (range 2-12). Females and participants who lived outside the Auki town center had significantly higher dietary diversity scores. Low consumption of a variety of nutritious foods within food groups and high consumption of energy dense processed foods, indicates that diet quality is likely limited in some of this population. Participants desire for a diverse diet including local foods suggests that current dietary diversity status in this population may be influenced by food security rather than food preference.