The Mediterranean Diet & Heart Disease: Measuring Knowledge Through Provider Education

Background The diagnosis of heart disease is a rapidly growing diagnosis within the United States (American Heart Association [AHA], 2023). Heart disease development secondary to inflammatory processes has become a growing concern as this diagnosis continues to increase amongst adults (Tristan et al., 2023). The effectiveness of anti-inflammatory diets, specifically the Mediterranean Diet (MD), in alleviating symptoms of heart disease has been demonstrated (Bawaked et al., 2017). Delivering MD education to healthcare providers through an educational intervention is a practical educational intervention that can be employed to offer providers a reference point to enhance treatment outcomes. The purpose of this project was to implement an evidence-based educational intervention to provide MD education to primary care providers, and measure the efficacy of the intervention by testing knowledge before and after completion. Methods Five primary care healthcare providers received the educational intervention. Pre- and post-tests were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Percentages were computed for both the pre and post-test responses. Results The computed percentages from the pre and posttest responses were compared to identify changes in knowledge after completion of the educational intervention. After analysis of the participants responses, an increase in knowledge was illustrated through positive trends in the data. Conclusion An evidence-based educational intervention shows promise as an effective method of educating primary care providers and increasing knowledge on the MD. Further implementation must be executed to better understand the efficacy of the intervention. Keywords: chronic inflammation, anti-inflammatory diets, chronic illness, chronic illness and diet, relationship between diet and inflammation