Dietary Advice Training in Nursing Using Simulation and Interactive Fiction

The case studies were prepared using interactive fiction through Twine. Each case simulated a nursing consultation with a patient requiring dietary advice, and the patient's evolution depended on the students' choices. All cases created had similar structures, durations, and difficulties to avoid complexity-related bias. For each circumstance, three possible dietary advice options were offered to the patient: one option that would be ideal, one suitable option, and one unsuitable option.

Role-play activity of the nursing consultation on dietary advice according to Nemec et al. (2021) recommendations. Ten case studies of a nursing consultation on dietary advice involving a nurse and a patient were designed with the consensus of a group of nursing professionals with expertise in food and nutrition, health literacy, and communication. Each student was assigned a role and provided with the necessary information to play their character or understand their patient's context. The information provided was different according to the role assigned. They had to perform a simulation of eight minutes, similar to the time available in the student's primary care consultations in the referral health system. Thus, the patient and the family member had to explain the situation or health problem, the professional would analyse it, and together, they would try to reach a therapeutic agreement. After the consultation, a debriefing was carried out.