Brazilian dieticians: professional and demographic profiles

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to analyze the difference in Brazilian dieticians’ work activities in view of personal, demographic and work variables. Methods This study takes a cross-sectional, exploratory approach with random sample per grouping, and with na accuracy of 0.05 and confidence interval of 95.0%. The final sample was of 587 respondents among a total of 25,793 dieticians. Descriptive (mean, median, standard deviation) and variance (Kruskal Wallis, Spearman index and Chi-square) analysis were performed. Results 46.9% of the respondents lived in Southeast region of Brazil; 96.9% were women; 61.2% had a partner, and the average age was 34.8 years; 51.4% graduated from public universities, 63.9% accomplished some kind of post-graduation course; 55.9% worked in private institutions and 39.7% had worked in their current job for at least two years; 30.7% performed their activities in more than one area and 24.4% worked in food and nutrition units. Variance analysis indicated that there was significant difference in the stratified variables type of institution in which the dieticians graduated from, “year of graduation”, “type of organization” in which they work and “time working” stratified by geographic region. Conclusion Typical dieticians are women, young, have a partner, live in the Brazilian Southeast, finished a post-graduate course, perform their activities in more than one area or in food and nutrition units and in private companies.