Study Finds Nutritional Toolkit Implementation Feasible in Outpatient Mental Health Settings

A recent quality improvement project presented at the first Scientific Poster Session at the 2025 NEI Spring Congress in Philadelphia explored ways to improve nutritional screening and education in outpatient mental health settings. 

“Nutrition plays a crucial role in mental health, yet nutritional screening and education are often underutilized in outpatient mental health settings,” wrote Jaricka Blundell Lau, BSN, RN, DNP/PMHNP-s, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and study coauthors. “This quality improvement project aimed to implement and evaluate a structured nutritional screening and education toolkit to support clinicians in addressing nutrition as part of comprehensive mental health care."

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The authors conducted the project in a private outpatient mental health clinic in suburban Utah. The clinic served approximately 550 clients each month and lacked a standardized protocol for assessing patients’ nutrition. The project followed the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model and utilized Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. 

The researchers first used a pre-implementation survey to better gauge clinician attitudes surrounding nutritional interventions for mental health. They then developed a nutritional toolkit, which included resources for dietitian referrals, a screening tool integrated into patients’ electronic health records (EHRs), and a patient education document that could be accessed via QR code. A post-implementation survey documented clinicians’ evaluations of the toolkit’s feasibility and usability, and their satisfaction with the intervention.

The pre-implementation survey, which was completed by 89% of the clinicians (n = 16), found that 90% (n = 14) of respondents acknowledged the impact of nutrition on mental health, but only 46% (n = 6) often recommended nutritional interventions to their patients. In the post-implementation survey, completed by 75% (n = 12) of the clinicians, 56% of clinicians reported using the nutritional screening tool sometimes to always, and the same percentage sometimes discussed nutrition education materials with their patients. Only 22% of clinicians reported rarely discussing nutrition education with clients, and 11% reported that they always did. 

The screening tool was also evaluated as feasible, with 83% of respondents rating it somewhat feasible to very feasible. All of the respondents rated the toolkit’s usability from fair to excellent, and 75% of participants found the intervention to be acceptable.

“Findings suggest that similar approaches could be adopted in other outpatient settings to support interdisciplinary collaboration and improve patient outcomes,” the authors concluded. The researchers suggest that future research explores the efficacy of the toolkit in diverse clinical settings and potential barriers to implementation.
  
Reference
Blundell Lau J, Dvorak TE, Bailey E. Improving nutritional screening and education in an outpatient mental health clinic: a quality improvement project. NEI Spring Congress; May 8-10; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.