Socio-Demographic Characteristics as Determinants of Performance of Clinical Nutrition Interns in Selected Health Facilities in Kenya

Research indicates a lack of clear understanding of performance metrics within clinical practice among nutrition interns. The performance of nutrition health care, particularly in clinical settings, remains under-assessed, leading to competency issues, higher patient mortality and dissatisfaction with outpatient services. Despite KNDI placing interns since 2015, over 500 nutritionists are released yearly without a clear linkage between their competencies and performance. This study aimed to determine the relationships between socio-demographic characteristics and the performance of clinical nutrition interns placed by KNDI in 41 internship centres. A cross-sectional analytical design was used, allowing for data collection at a single point in time. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including linear regression, were applied to analyze data. Three-level data analysis was employed: descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate. Most clinical nutrition interns were between 22-28, accounting for 95.1%, and females were the majority, accounting for 79.8%. Further analysis was done to see how far the different categories were from the expected frequencies, revealing that they were statistically significant P≤ 0.05 for all the measures. The mean score for general workplace performance and Job-specific performance was above 4.0. All the measures of General workplace performance were subjected to Principal axis factoring. The sample size was adequate (KMO=0.872; Bartlet Test of Sphericity=X2=114, df=21; P≤ 0.05 allowing further analysis. It was further established that two factors emerged out of all eight measures loaded to establish GWP, revealing two categories of performance in the GWP Sphere. Category 1 accounted for 38.29%, and Category 2 accounted for 28.45% of the total variance of GWP, collectively accounting for 67% of variability, leaving room (33%) for unexplained variation. All the eight measures of JSP, on the other hand, were also subjected to Principal Axis factoring, and the results revealed that the sample size was adequate (Kmo=0.917, Bartlet Test of Sphericity =X2=1509, df=28, P≤ 0.05.JSP had a unity as a measure, accounting for 61.83%. Socio-demographic characteristics (R2 =17.2; F=3.23; df=5; p=0.007 significantly influenced the JSP accounting for 17.2% of its variance. In category 1, GWP, socio-demographic characteristics had a significant influence (R2=14.7; F=2.67; df=5; p=0.022). In category 2, GWP, socio-demographic measures had no significance in relation to the performance of clinical nutrition interns. (P>0.05). The findings suggest tailoring programs to specific performance aspects and considering relevant demographic factors can improve effectiveness.