Quality of outcomes in medical nutrition therapy on irritable bowel syndrome

The project investigates how the quality of medical nutrition therapy on irritable bowel syndrome and food intolerances can be reliably assessed. We will develop a core outcome set, which will subsequently be evaluated.

Factsheet

Situation

Due to constantly rising healthcare costs, healthcare professionals - including dietitians - face the challenge of demonstrating the effectiveness of therapies in clinical studies and everyday practice. Clinical healthcare data is often analyzed retrospectively for this purpose. However, if such studies are not well planned before data collection, problems such as heterogeneous and missing data arise, making it difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of interventions. New approaches must be developed so that such studies can be carried out in good quality. "Core outcome sets" define outcomes that should be assessed as a minimum in a consensus procedure. They could be a possible solution. The EQ-ERB project, therefore, aims to develop and evaluate such a "core outcome set" to measure the quality of results in medical nutrition therapy on irritable bowel syndrome.

Course of action

The project is based on the methodology of "developing and evaluating complex health interventions" and includes qualitative and quantitative methods. Two main studies will be conducted: 1) Development of the current evidence base with a systematic review on the low FODMAP diet; 2) Development of the core outcome set with a Delphi study involving dietitians, adults with IBS, gastroenterologists and decision-makers in the healthcare sector from German-speaking Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

Looking ahead

The Core Outcome Set will be made available to dietitians in German-speaking countries, thus enabling the measurement of outcome quality as proof of effectiveness and a basis for optimizing medical nutrition therapy.

This project contributes to the following SDGs

  • 3: Good health and well-being