Peer reviewed / Manuscript (original) received: 10 September 2020 Revision accepted: 30 December 2020
A systematic literature search and Delphi survey
Introduction
Globally, neurological disorders are the main cause of physical functional impairments and disabilities. They also have a substantial effect on the course of disease and on patients’ quality of life [1, 2]. The fact that neurological disorders can cause various nutrition-related disorders such as dysphagia, aspiration, malnutrition and disorders of gastrointestinal motility means that medical nutrition therapy has a key role to play in the management of neurological diseases [3, 4].
There is an increasing demand for a standardized approach to medical nutrition therapy in this context—an approach based on transparency, quality assurance and the evaluation of outcomes. For this reason, more emphasis is now being placed on the use of standardized language [8] in addition to a standardized process [5], e.g., the dietetic process [6] and the German-Nutrition Care Process [7]. Currently, there are two standardized languages used for documentation in the field of medical nutrition therapy in Europe (they are also referred to as “terminology” or “classifications”). One of these is the Nutrition Care Process Terminology (NCPT) developed in the USA by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the other is the Classifications and Coding lists for Dietetics (CCD) developed in the Netherlands [8]. The ICF1-Dietetics is the most prominent classification of the CCD. …
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1 International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
Abstract
The aim of this study is to lay the foundation for a standardized dietetic assessment for patients with neurological disorders using the ICF-Dietetics.
A Delphi survey and a systematic literature search were conducted for this purpose. The quality of the assessment and outcome instruments that were included was assessed using COSMIN, and the nutrition-related questions were linked to and compared with the ICF-Dietetics categories using established ICF linking rules.
From the 15 assessment and outcome instruments, a total of 116 nutrition-related questions were identified and these were used to define 121 key terms and 35 secondary terms. These terms were then linked to 65 precise ICF-Dietetics categories. These nutrition-related aspects were supplemented with those from the Delphi survey.
This lays the foundation for the first dietetic assessment using the ICF-Dietetics and will contribute to quality assurance and outcome research in dietetics.
Keywords: Nutrition assessment, dietetic assessment, dietetics, neurological disorders, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), ICF-Dietetics
