Ranking of Shiraz Top Fitness clubs Regarding Nutritional Knowledge, Attitude, and Performance of Sport Trainers Using Multi-Criteria Decision Making Approach

Abstract

Background: It is important to know the physiological needs of athletes in relation to the type of sport, exercise, and the competition, about the amount of energy intake, macronutrients, micronutrients and fluids. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the nutritional knowledge, attitude, and the performance of Shiraz top fitness clubs' sport trainers and ranking the clubs in this regard. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire of Parmenter and Wardle were used to record nutritional information including nutritional knowledge, attitude, and the performance of the sport coaches of 26 top clubs in Shiraz, southern Iran. To determine the weight of questionnaire's dimensions, the Shannon entropy method was used and the Topsis technique was used to rank the clubs. Results: The mean scores of the top fitness clubs' coaches in Shiraz in different aspects of nutritional knowledge, attitude, and performance were 14.367, 9.17, and 3.381, respectively. The ranking of clubs showed that 73% and 27% of the top clubs in Shiraz, respectively, had a moderate and poor status in the knowledge, attitude and performance of the coaches, and none of the clubs been in a good condition. In addition, the highest scale in this ranking was related to nutritional knowledge of coaches. Conclusion: The top sport clubs' coaches in Shiraz had a low level of nutritional knowledge, attitude and performance, and none of the clubs had a good score in this regard. Therefore, the need for interventional actions to promote these items seems necessary.