Studying the transition to employment in dietetics: A 2‐year longitudinal study of employment outcomes in graduates of a university dietetics program

AIMS Transition to employment is considered a vulnerable period for health professional graduates. This study aimed to follow the transition to employment for graduates from a single dietetics program, at several timepoints over 24 months to assess dietetic employment outcomes.

METHODS Griffith University dietetics graduates from 2017 to 2019 were invited to participate in the longitudinal Griffith Dietetics Graduate Outcomes Study comprising four online surveys on employment preferences and outcomes: Survey 1 (graduation), Survey 2 (6-months), Survey 3 (12-months), and Survey 4 (24-months). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, for cross-sectional findings (Surveys 3 and 4) and longitudinal analyses (Surveys 1-4).

RESULTS Of the 150 eligible graduates, 91.3%, 73.3%, 59.3% and 51.3% responded to Surveys 1-4 respectively. At Survey 3, 84.3% of respondents were employed as a dietitian, 60.0% working more than 32 h/week and 25.3% in permanent positions. At Survey 4, 85.7% worked as a dietitian, 69.7% more than 32 h/week, predominantly in hospitals (45.5%) and private practice (37.9%). Longitudinal analyses showed that of 44/62 (70.1%) respondents who preferred a hospital role at graduation, 25 (56.8%) worked in a hospital at 24 months. All but one of the 16/62 (25.8%) who preferred private practice at graduation worked there at 6 months (93.8%), 12 of whom remained in private practice at 24 months (75%).

CONCLUSION Universities need to prepare graduates for the challenging transition to full-time employment within their preferred sector. For dietitians within this study, the most vulnerable period was the 12 months post-graduation. National, longitudinal studies to at least 24 months are needed to investigate graduate employment outcomes for all dietetics programs.