Swimming Upstream: Bringing Critical Dietetics into Conventional Practice

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to describe how dietitians are socialized in the early years of practice and the challenges dietitians face in incorporating the tenets of critical dietetics into their day-to-day practice.

Appendices

Assignments

• 1. Provide participants with a copy of the discussion paper on critical dietetics (Gingras et al. (2014) Critical dietetics: A discussion paper. Journal of Critical Dietetics 2(1). Ask them to write a reflective response to the following question: Using the ideas proposed in this paper, reflect on how different your work might be if these ideas were put into practice.

• 2. Identify any barriers to the implementation of the Critical Dietetics Framework into mainstream dietetic practice. Discuss how those barriers might be overcome.

• 3. In groups of 5, discuss the questions you still have about critical dietetics after reading this chapter and how we might incorporate those ideas into conventional practice.

• 4. What does reflexive practice mean to you? How might you incorporate this practice into your daily work life as a dietitian?

• 5. Provide participants with a copy of the discussion paper on critical dietetics (Gingras et al. (2014) Critical dietetics: A discussion paper. Journal of Critical Dietetics 2(1): 2–12. Ask them to write a response to the following question: In this paper, the authors only focus on one area of practice to provide examples of how dietitians can incorporate the tenets of critical dietetics into nutrition education. Using your own area of practice, reflect on things that you could do in your own area of influence to incorporate critical dietetic principles into dietetic practice.

• 6. In groups of 5, discuss the questions you still have about critical dietetics after reading Gingras et al.’s paper and how we might incorporate those ideas into conventional practice.

Definition of Keywords and Terms

Professional identity:

This is a concept that describes how we perceive ourselves as professionals and how we communicate that to others.

Professional socialization:

Socialization is the process by which individuals acquire the identity of a professional. This process involves the learning of the values norms behaviours and social skills associated with their profession

Reflexivity:

When one is practising reflexivity, she is going beyond reflecting on an experience and how she can improve practice as a result. Reflexivity involves exploring one’s feelings, motives and reactions to a situation and how this influences her thinking about that situation.

Standardised dietitian:

The process by which professional education and professional practices inculcate a particular standardized subjectivity.

Transformative practice:

This is a way of practising that results in beneficial change.

How This Chapter Addresses the Critical Dietetics Framework

This chapter addresses the Critical Dietetics Framework in its commitment to reflexive practice and to the co-production of knowledge.