Survey of Registered Dietitians' Proficiency of Celiac Disease and Use of Twitter, Facebook, Smart Phone App, and Internet for Celiac Disease Management

Abstract

The Registered Dietitian (RD) plays an integral role in helping patients manage their celiac disease (CD). This study explored how proficient RDs are with CD management in addition to determining how RDs use technology to educate themselves and CD patients. RDs (N=405) participated in this 35 item internet-based survey to measure self-reported CD proficiency, CD knowledge, preferences for CD resources for self-education and patient education, and use of Twitter, Facebook, smart phone apps, and internet for CD management. RDs reported either moderate or high levels of proficiency for all seven of the seven self-reported proficiency topics. Professional and academic publications were the most commonly used resources by the RD for self-education whereas handouts were the most commonly used resource by the RD for patient education. RD's reported using Twitter the least for self-education and the Internet the most for patient education.