Prerequisites for admission.

Admission to the degree programme is subject to the possession of a secondary school diploma or equivalent suitable qualification obtained abroad.
Admission to the programme is subject to the passing of an entrance exam set in line with the laws in force concerning health professions and the nationally programmed access (Law 264/99) and the relative call for admissions issued by UNIMORE. Knowledge required for admission is deemed to be appropriate for all candidates obtaining a minimum of 20 points in the entrance exam, as laid down in Ministerial Decree no. 85 of 5 February 2014.
Candidates not obtaining this score are assigned additional learning requirements (OFA) to be completed by the end of the first semester of the AY, and are offered remedial courses as indicated by the programme board.

Skills associated with the function

The programme trains students for the dietetics profession
Dietetics graduates are skilled in all activities aimed at the correct application of diets and nutrition, including education and collaboration in the implementation of food policies, in compliance with current legislation. In particular:
- diagnose diet and nutritional needs in socio-health situations, in terms of education, prevention, clinical treatment and rehabilitation;
- assess nutritional status (nutrient intake, anthropometric data or body composition, biochemical index, etc.) in order to prevent or treat diseases;
- study and design of the composition of diet rations to satisfy the nutritional needs of healthy individuals and population groups;
- plan, carry out and evaluate dietary interventions in accordance with diagnostic and therapeutic prescriptions across different work settings;
- collaborate with the health and hygiene departments in nutritional services;
- plan and manage health education campaigns designed to promote healthy lifestyles and prevent food-related pathologies in health and educational settings, etc.;
- plan monitoring campaigns (epidemiologic data collection, submission of questionnaires to survey food consumption and/or a group’s nutritional status);
- promote healthy eating habits for catering services (in schools, hospitals and businesses) designed to improve the nutritional quality and safety of food;
- draft, formulate and apply diets prescribed by doctors and ensure that they are acceptable by the patients;
- for patients with chronic pathologies, provide dietary advice aimed at raising their awareness of how to manage nutrition care plans independently;
- work in multidisciplinary teams treating eating disorders, drafting dietary and nutritional plans;
- they provide educational services and information to disseminate the principles of a correct diet, for the recovery and maintenance of good health in individuals, the community and population groups;
- plan and manage research activities in a diet-nutrition context.

Function in a work context

The programme trains students for the dietetics profession
Dieticians are health professionals with the responsibilities laid down in the Ministry of Health Decree no. 744 of 14 September 1994 and amendments; they are responsible for all activities required for correct dietary and nutritional applications, including the provision of educational activities and cooperating in the implementation of food policies, in compliance with the laws in force. Dietetics graduates organise and coordinate specific activities relating to nutrition generally and dietetics in particular; they work with the organisations in charge of the health and hygiene aspects of nutrition; they draft, formulate and apply diets prescribed by doctors and ensure that they are acceptable by the patients; they work in multidisciplinary teams treating eating disorders; they study and calculate the composition of food rations required to satisfy the nutritional needs of population groups and plan the organisation of community meal services targeting healthy and sick users; they provide educational services and information to disseminate the principles of a correct diet, for the recovery and maintenance of good health in individuals, the community and population groups.

Educational goals

Pursuant to article 3, paragraph 1 of Italian law no. 251 of 10 August 2000, Dietetics graduates are professional health workers providing autonomous technical and care services, and must have:
- appropriate training in basic subjects allowing them to better understand the most important elements underlying the physiological and pathological processes of children, adults and the elderly in order to focus care activities there;
- knowledge of the main of the health problems affecting a community and the responses of the health and social services to key diet and nutrition needs;
- knowledge of the psycho-pedagogic foundations of teaching and learning activities with a view to effective communication and lifelong learning;
- knowledge of the main rules governing the dietician profession and the relative medical and legal implications;
- ability to establish effective and ethically correct relations with patients, other professional figures working in the care team and in the social and health facilities in which they provide their services.
The Degree Programme curriculum covers:
- in the first year, basic scientific disciplines, with the study of biomedical subjects offering understanding of the most important basic elements of biochemical, physiological and pathological processes affecting nutrition, as well as knowledge of food sciences (food chemistry, food technologies and the principles of dietetics); the internship and laboratories offer experience and the chance to apply knowledge, as well as the progressive acquisition of specific vocational skills.
- in the second year, the study of key community health issues and health and social services problems concerning nutritional requirements, aiming to provide appropriate theoretical and practical knowledge, supported by internships in the field (catering companies, schools, etc.) in community nutrition and collective catering (school and hospital catering, etc.) as well as knowledge of the social, psychological and pedagogical foundations applied to health and food education targeting individuals (healthy and sick) and groups (children, adolescents, sportspersons, the elderly, etc.); the internship and laboratories offer experience and the chance to apply knowledge, as well as the progressive acquisition of specific vocational skills.
- in the third year, clinical training is provided through medical and specialist course units and the internship (performed in hospital dietetic services) aiming to provide students with specific clinical nutrition and diet therapy competences and understand the main ethical rules governing the dietician profession. The course units in statistics, data processing, training course on scientific research and participation in research and clinical studies to produce the dissertation all allow the students to acquire an appropriate scientific methodology.
The vocational internship, the duration and ECTS allocation of which increase progressively over the three years, is performed in contexts allowing students to experiment the knowledge and techniques learned in each year of the degree programme under the supervision of tutor-dieticians, who support the students in the exercise of their profession in a responsible, autonomous manner.

Communication skills

Dietetics graduates must develop the following communication skills:
- possess and use appropriate communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and written) with patients of different ages and their families in the case process;
- use appropriate teaching and learning tools in specific educational and information interventions targeting sick and healthy individuals and groups aiming to promote a correct life style and healthy eating habits;
- support and motivate users towards a healthy life style, particularly chronic patients; fostering their active participation using counselling techniques;
- demonstrate effective communication skills with other operators (aware of the specific character of each role) and establishing professional relations to improve and integrate the health care provided to users;
- act as a guide and/or support for other operators and students;
- cooperate with the therapeutic team to agree operational methods and develop clinical and nutritional protocols and/or guidelines.
Learning methods and activities and teaching tools to develop the learning outcomes:
- technical and practical lessons and field applications;
- classroom exercises and simulations in the field;
- discussion of projects, clinical cases with a tutor/professor;
- internship in different contexts with debriefing sessions to reflect on and develop the relational experience with users and stakeholder teams.
Assessment tools for verifying the achieved results:
- presentation of project work and active participation in educational activities guided by tutors in school settings (dietary education for children) and hospitals (dietary education for individuals and groups suffering from diseases);
- progress feedback during the internship by tutors using structured evaluation grids and sheets based on the expected learning outcomes/skills;
- internship exams with simulations of the expected interpersonal and educational skills.

Making Judgements

Dietetics graduates must demonstrate the ability to make judgements using the following skills:
- provide dietary and nutritional care, acknowledging and respecting the dignity, culture, values and rights of individuals and groups of the population;
- use critical skills to deliver effective dietetics and educational interventions suited to the users' needs;
- take on responsibility and respond for their own professional actions in line with the profile, code of conduct and ethical and legal standards;
- are autonomous in the exercise of the dietetics profession, collaborating with other operators in a multidisciplinary team for the assessment, planning and management of therapeutic interventions;
- can critically assess the potential and limitations of dietetics as a practical discipline and integrate new concepts and topics from correlated disciplines;
- can use new knowledge to analyse and solve the problems encountered in the exercise of the dietetics profession;
- can critically assess scientific literature for the purposes of lifelong learning, acquiring scientific method to cooperate in scientific research and experiments.
Learning methods and activities and teaching tools to develop the learning outcomes:
- technical and practical lessons and applications in the dietetics field;
- exercises and simulations in the class and in the field (school and hospital canteens, schools and hospital clinics);
- discussion of case studies and debriefing sessions in the classroom with the tutor to reflect on professional experiences;
- internships in different contexts with the supervision of an expert tutor and the progressive assumption of responsibility and autonomy;
- training activities focusing on bibliographical research, statistics, research methodology and the design of protocols, as well as the dissertation.
Assessment tools for verifying the achieved results:
- written and oral exams, project work,
- structured step-by-step internship exams
- training workshops on bibliographical research and scientific training, as well as the dissertation.

Learning skills

Dietetics graduates must develop the following learning skills:
- develop the ability to study independently;
- demonstrate the ability to update their own knowledge constantly, exercising the profession in order to adapt to changing situations (e.g. health needs, epidemiological data, etc.) and the development in the scientific discipline of dietetics;
- develop the ability to question and reflect on professional practice, posing pertinent questions in appropriate situations and to the appropriate people;
- demonstrate the ability to continuously seek self-learning opportunities
- demonstrate their self-assessment skills and identify their own learning and development needs;
- demonstrate learning skills, cooperating with other professional figures and sharing knowledge in the multidisciplinary team;
- demonstrate autonomous skills in seeking information and selecting sources based on scientific evidence to solve problems and uncertainties deriving from professional practice.
Learning methods and activities to develop the learning outcomes:
- learning based on case studies and problem solving;
- use of cognitive maps;
- research methodology workshops and the processing of information (e.g. on-line bibliographical research, use of computer tools to process data, etc.);
- guided reading for the critical assessment of scientific literature in both Italian and English.
Assessment tools for verifying the achieved results:
- project work, reports on specific topics, quality of bibliographical research used for the dissertation;
- supervision of the internship by the tutor using evaluation grids;
- active participation in work sessions and debriefing sessions during the internship.

Knowledge and understanding

Basic Area
Knowledge and understanding of basic scientific disciplines base (physics, computing, statistics) for understanding the principles of scientific research in medical and health fields, to learn the main computer tools for processing clinical data and for nutritional analysis.
Basic language skills for the use of the English language in international contexts and to understand medical and scientific literature.


Biomedical area
Knowledge and understanding of biomedical sciences (biology, histology, biochemistry, human anatomy, human physiology, microbiology, hygiene, general pathology, pharmacology, etc.) to understand the physiological and pathological processes of health and illness in patients of different ages.

Dietetics and nutritional area
Knowledge and understanding of dietary sciences applied to dietetics and food science (food chemistry, principles of dietetics, food technologies, community nutrition, collective catering, food education, diet therapy, clinical nutrition, etc.)

Socio-psycho-pedagogic area
Knowledge and understanding of psycho-social sciences (general psychology, clinical psychology, sociology, general and social pedagogy, psychology of development and education) to understand human behaviour, interpersonal and motivational dynamics and counselling, to recognise and manage pathological eating habits competently.

Medical-clinical area
Knowledge and understanding of medical clinical sciences (endocrinology, internal medicine, geriatrics, gastroenterology, nephrology, cardiology, paediatrics, child neuropsychiatry, psychiatry, neurology, gynaecology and midwifery, general surgery, etc.) in order to understand medical terminology and classify pathologies, to learn the risk factors, causes, diagnosis, therapeutic and multidisciplinary management of patients for whom the dietary intervention is intended.

Prevention and management area
Knowledge and understanding of ethical, legal and preventive sciences (hygiene, legal medicine, labour law, health business economics) for understanding the health system and laws in force for promoting public health and understanding professional responsibility and autonomy in various fields of dietary intervention and cooperation and other operators.

Internship
Knowledge and understanding of dietetic techniques (knowledge provided in course units with lectures and workshops) and application of the appropriate and scientifically validated methodologies/tools firstly in the class with simulations and role playing, in different fields in which dieticians perform their professional activity (collective catering, local public institutions, hospital dietary services, care homes, etc.).

Applying knowledge and understanding

Basic Area
Ability to apply the notions of physics to key biomedical disciplines (physiology, biochemistry, human anatomy) and statistical and computing methods for analysing and processing experimental and clinical data and information; ability to apply knowledge of the English language to interpret scientific sources to study and/or update nutritional knowledge.
Assessment methods:
- exams in the course units in physics, computing and statistics;
- placement test for English language or final exam for passing the level test.


Biomedical area
Ability to apply and demonstrate systematic and integrated understanding of key biomedical issues and know how to apply them professionally in health and nutritional fields.
Assessment methods:
(Written and oral) exams in course units on:
- biology, histology and biochemistry;
- anatomy and physiology;
- microbiology and hygiene;
- physiopathology.


Dietetics and nutritional area
skilfully use the key methods for measuring food consumption in individuals and the population, and computer tools to analyse and process clinical and nutritional data;
- support patients in a change in food habits and lifestyle, monitoring and appropriately relating these to safe dietary practices;
- research information sources (guidelines, scientific literature, etc.) to solve health problems and plan diet and nutrition strategies among individuals and the community;
- interpret and apply the results of dietary research and link research to the theoretical development of dietetics;
- communicate information, problems and solutions of dietary models and health to (sick and healthy) individuals and population groups.
Assessment methods: (written and oral) exams in course units on:
- food sciences:
- applied dietetic sciences
- human nutrition and collective catering.


Socio-psycho-pedagogic area
Ability to apply theoretical knowledge and consider social, cultural and personal factors as well as medical and nutritional information to assess the most appropriate response to the health needs of individuals and groups to design and manage appropriate dietary education interventions.
Ability to formulate and implement educational projects in nutritional fields suited to the target and considering specific factors (age group, socio-cultural level, presence of disease).
Assessment methods: (written and oral) exams in course units on:
- Human and psycho-pedagogic sciences


Medical-clinical area
Ability to apply and integrate dietary and medical-clinical knowledge to pathologies (obesity, diabetes, kidney diseases, metabolic syndrome, etc.) where nutrition is an integral part of the treatment or nutritional consulting is effective in the prevention, care and rehabilitation of disease (DCA, gynaecological, allergological, dermatological, cardiological, oncological pathologies, etc.).
Assessment methods: (written and oral) exams in course units on:
- Internal medical sciences;
- Clinical medical sciences I;
- Clinical medical sciences II;
- Paediatric, midwifery and gynaecological sciences.


Prevention and management area
Demonstration of an understanding of the organisation of health promotion and education and a critical understanding of the role and theoretical bases of public health interventions;
- demonstrate appropriate knowledge of working environments in different contexts of the dietary profession, collaborating with colleagues and other operators to achieve common therapeutic objectives;
- integrate the understanding of ethical questions and the code of conduct with dietetic interventions in specific situations/cases.
Assessment methods: (written and oral) exams in course units on:
- prevention sciences and first aid;
- healthcare management.


Internship
Ability to apply knowledge and understanding during the internship, in particular:
- having acquired the ability to use computer systems to gather and archive data, process dietary tables and menus, gather and selection of bibliographical material, for managing information flows on the activities performed in a service;
- Ability to recognise and assess the bromatological and organoleptic features of raw foods and processing through preservation and cooking;
- Ability to visually assess weights and volumes of foodstuffs;
- have attended model school, hospital and collective catering facilities, following all the phases involved in the preparation of menus and special diets;
- be able to calculate the nutritional needs of different age groups and design food rations with lists of alternatives;
- be able to perform a dietary case history and apply different methods of investigation to measure food consumption habits;
- participate in the drafting of a food education project, including: analysis of the situation, definition of objectives, programming, implementation, evaluation of the results;
- be able to assess the nutritional state of healthy and sick individuals applying different methods (1st and 2nd level anthropometric assessment);
- be able to run disease-specific nutritional projects including: description and assessment of the case, definition of objectives, drafting of diet protocols, evaluation criteria;
- be able to communicate the dietary treatment to patients (clinical interview and/or role playing in the classroom);
- be able to establish individual and/or group treatment programmes, in cooperation with the therapy team, including the definition and verification of objectives and the implementation of procedures.

Assessment methods:
- written and oral exams, project-work, simulations of clinical cases;
- monitoring of internships performed by the students through the application of evaluation sheets (see degree programme website);
- written and oral internship exams in years 1, 2 and 3.