Dietetic and healthcare professionals will face many changes in their clients and patients as the United States (U.S.) demographics transform, requiring greater attention to the treatment of individuals without discrimination. This exploratory study investigated bias and prejudice attitudes of dietetic students and interns toward individuals or groups of individuals. A qualitative survey was conducted utilizing 4 open-ended questions on biases toward or prejudices against individuals or groups of individuals. 289 students and interns of U.S. Didactic Programs in Dietetics (DPD), Coordinated Programs in Dietetics (CPD), and Dietetic Internships (DI) representing 13 universities and 18 dietetic programs participated in the nationwide study conducted August 28 through October 16, 2012. A general content analysis of the open-ended responses was conducted to identify major categories for quantifying the data. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents said they did not have any prejudices against and 43% did not have any biases toward individuals or groups of individuals. The second most prevalent category for prejudices was an individual’s or a group’s “ethnicity, race, or culture” and for biases was “other.” Additional prejudice categories included lazy/ unmotivated, health, education/income, gender, religion, politics, and “other.” Further categories for biases included ethnicity/race/culture, education/income, religion, family/friends, gender/sexuality, health, politics, and people like me. This study suggests that DPD, CPD, and DI programs should include greater emphasis on these topics in course work and supervised practice as a safeguard so that entering dietetic professionals are aware of inappropriate attitudes and behaviors that may result in discriminatory or improper treatment of others.

nutrition and dietetic students, prejudice, bias, stereotype.