Nutrition and dietetic student’s perspectives of the impact of short-term, international, immersive placements in underserved communities

Short-term, immersive international placements are common and have been recognised for facilitating cultural learning, intercultural sensitivity, global-mindedness, and critical thinking. These outcomes are not guaranteed and the impact and inclusion of these experiences in an already comprehensive curriculum remain to be carefully evaluated. This study explores the impact of 4-week international placements on professional and personal development (short-term and enduring) of participating final-year undergraduate and postgraduate dietetic and undergraduate nutrition students. Recent nutrition and dietetic graduates (n = 8) of the program, implemented in underserved communities in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vanuatu for four weeks during 2022–2021, were interviewed using semi-structured questions until saturation, followed by thematic analysis using a six-step process (1) . Graduates were interviewed about their in-country experience and its impact on their professional practice, within 12–18 months of graduating. Findings were further analysed against the national competency standards for dietitians in Australia. Participants expressed significant cultural awareness (appreciation of the strength of other cultures, stronger communitarian values of hosts), greater critical and systems thinking (about socio-economic determinants of health, systems-level thinking) and deeper capacity for empathy and compassion (emotional quotient development). When viewed against the national competency standards, participants did not understand how international placements from developed to developing countries can perpetuate colonisation principles and global-mindedness was not identified as a strong theme. These findings suggest that immersive, international placements result in profound, transformational, and enduring learning that extends into participants’ professional life, especially respect for cultural safety and the development of systems thinking. There is an alignment with accrediting professional peak body competencies for cultural competency, professional practice and collaborative practice with findings suggesting areas for strengthening the nutrition and dietetic curriculum include enhancing learning outcomes of global-mindedness thinking and decolonisation principles.