Las competencias profesionales del nutricionista deportivo

OBJECTIVE: This article presents the results of the doctoral research developed by the author at the University of Lleida (Spain) in June 2006. The main goal was to investigate the professional competences of dietitians who work in the field of Sports Nutrition. METHODS: Fourteen experts in Sports Nutrition from 4 countries were investigated, Australia (n=1), Brazil (n=7), Spain (n=3) and the United States (n=3). The methodological tool applied was the Delphi Technique, consisting of three rounds of questionnaires. In the first round, the experts identified a number of Professional Competences, and on the following second and third rounds these competences were assessed and analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean, mode, median and standard deviation). RESULTS: A consensus was reached by the experts on 147 identified competences. The competences were classified into four macro categories of professional competences: Technical (38), Methodological (62), Participative (24) and Personal (23) competences. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the systemized study of the professional competences of the Sports Dietitian contributes to the establishment of the contents to be taught in Sports Nutrition classes that are now being incorporated in the curriculum of undergraduate nutrition courses.