Stages of Change Model: How to Deliver Nutrition Education to Adult Burn Survivors

In the early stages of recovery, adult burn survivors receive a large breadth of education that assists them as they adapt to their lives post injury. Good nutrition plays a crucial role in these early stages to improve the wellness of burn survivors. Nutrition education during the rehabilitation phase of recovery, however, is lacking for this population. Additionally, the optimum time and plan for delivering nutrition education for burn survivors during the rehabilitation phase is not yet established. Although registered dietitians (RDs) are available for nutritional interventions, they rarely provide outpatient nutrition education to burn survivors during the rehabilitation phase. The provision of a model to guide the assessment of burn survivors’ readiness to receive and act on nutrition education could assist RDs in outpatient educational efforts. This commentary article proposes a model to guide RDs in providing timely and individualized nutrition education for adult burn survivors during the rehabilitation phase. To accomplish this goal, we have modified the existing stages of change model used in clinical nutrition practice for adult burn survivors. The proposed model aims to assess the readiness of burn survivors to receive, change, and implement dietary habits during the rehabilitation phase based on two main stages: preaction and action stages. Moreover, this model proposes placement questions to assist RDs in identifying main stages, substages, and transitions between stages. It also includes four elements (four basic parts) to guide RDs while delivering nutrition education throughout each stage.