Page 333 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

We all belong to groups. What groups do you belong to? A family group? Social group? Friends group?
Religious group? Sports group? Service group? Work group? Professional group? Some groups meet together
often; others less frequently. Face-to-face group meetings and committees are also common, including virtual
online groups such as Facebook. We join groups to satisfy a need for belonging, for fun, to meet others for
social contact, to unwind and reduce anxiety, to enhance a career, or because we have no choice at work.1,2
Professionals are members and perhaps hold leadership positions in local, state, and national associations such
as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians, or
special interest groups like the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation.

Providing nutrition services for individuals and groups and managing human resources are part of the scope
of practice for nutrition professionals.3,4 Dietitians and other healthcare professionals manage employee
groups in addition to interacting with client groups, community groups, colleagues, and other healthcare
professionals.

Consultation with or coordination of nutrition care with other providers or health professionals assists in
managing and treating nutrition-related problems.5 Some nutrition professionals are working on collaborative
interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary healthcare teams dealing with nutrition support therapy, rehabilitation,
nephrology care and dialysis, diabetes management, or other chronic disease management and attending
patient care team meetings.6–9 Specialists from several fields share knowledge, skills, and resources in working
toward common goals to provide solutions to patient/client health problems. Solving the nation’s obesity
epidemic is an example of the need for interdisciplinary team approaches in public health, community groups,
food companies, marketing, health professionals, and others. Practitioners group clients for small group
counseling, such as for obesity, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes. Patient/client education sessions are often
accomplished in a group setting.7–9

One of the primary goals of public health messages is to improve lifestyle habits of target audiences.
People’s ideas about health and behaviors are shaped by the communication of information by health
professionals and by online health information technology. With the increasing complexity of health
information and newer technology, nutrition practitioners are challenged to respond. The United States
Department of Agriculture’s SuperTracker Groups is an online free food, physical activity, and weight
tracking tool available. This program allows nutrition professionals to create groups within schools, families,
and other environments to share selected information and tracking reports to achieve common health goals.10

Managers are skilled in working with small employee groups. Activities such as conducting performance
appraisals, counseling, disciplining staff, facilitating group or team meetings, team building, employee
training, enhancing morale through the building of cohesiveness among staff, initiating change, and managing
the resulting resistance all require well-honed communication skills.8,11

Small groups can be exciting and creative as well as boring and frustrating. One of the keys to effective
working in a group, or leading one, is an understanding of group communication, facilitation, and dynamics.
This chapter examines the stages of group development, characteristics of group and team dynamics,
groupthink, group and team leadership, tasks of group leaders or facilitators, roles and functions of group
members and facilitators, diversity in groups, and managing meetings.

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