Critical Synthesis Package: Nutrition in Patient Care Survey

Abstract This Critical Synthesis Package contains: (1) a Critical Analysis of the psychometric properties and the application to health science education of the Nutrition in Patient Care Survey (NIPS), and (2) a copy of the NIPS instrument and the scoring instructions developed by William McGaghie, PhD. The NIPS is a short, self-administered instrument with 45 declarative statements, divided into 5 validated subscales: (1) Nutrition in Routine Care (incorporation of nutrition in routine care), (2) Physician-Patient Relationship (patient-provider nutrition communication), (3) Patient Behavior/Motivation (causal and mediating factors in patient behavior), (4) Physician Efficacy (physician effectiveness in changing patient behavior), and (5) Clinical Behavior (attitudes related to the importance of nutrition counseling in clinical practice). The response options are presented along a 5-point Likert scale for items 1–25. Items 26–45 (Clinical Behavior subscale) have a yes/no response option. Mean subscale scores can be calculated, with higher scores indicating more favorable attitudes towards nutrition counseling. The percentage of yes responses to the Clinical Behavior subscale can also be calculated. The NIPS has been used in research on medical students, residents, physicians, and other health-care providers. The NIPS has demonstrated sensitivity to changes in attitude in one intervention that incorporated motivational interviewing. The concurrent validity of this scale should be further explored as it has not yet been correlated with other relevant scales. Also, the authors present evidence for test-retest reliability but there is a lack of longitudinal research assessing its application in diverse populations.