Development and Acceptability of a Dietitian Delivered Patient Educational Video for Managing Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Purpose: Irritable bowel syndrome is a common disorder of the gut-brain interaction, with guidelines advising lifestyle modification as first-line treatment. This contributes to high demand for dietetic services. As technological interventions may improve efficiency of care and patient experience, we aimed to develop a first-line patient educational video for irritable bowel syndrome. Setting: This project was set at Mater Health, Brisbane, Australia, where referrals outweigh dietetic capacity, resulting in prolonged patient wait times. Intervention: Video content was based on best-practice guidelines and created via collaboration between dietetics and the gastroenterology multidisciplinary team. Outcomes: Four short educational videos were created. Consumer and clinician feedback described the videos as educational and easy to understand. Clinicians reported they would recommend the videos to their patients. All consumers said they would recommend the videos to family/friends with irritable bowel syndrome and 88% said they would make dietary changes. After watching the videos, 45% felt they would not require a face-to-face dietetic appointment. Lessons Learned: Our project suggests that using video technology is feasible and acceptable to both consumers and clinicians for IBS education. These results have wider implications for video education to be adapted by other healthcare professionals across a range of chronic conditions.