Percepções, barreiras e facilitadores da implementação da lei das cantinas escolares por adolescentes do Distrito Federal

Abstract

This study aimed at characterizing the students' perception of Law 5.146/2013’s implementation, whose objective is to promote healthy eating in schools in the Federal District, and to identify the barriers and facilitators that exist in adopting it, as well as the perspectives for the implementation of actions of Food and Nutrition Education (FNE) in the school environment. Fifty-two 9th grade teenagers from three public and private schools participated, distributed in six focus groups. A semi-structured script was followed with questions, validated by the Delphi technique, to find out what was being sold and consumed in the cafeterias according to the adolescents, whether they knew the law, and to assess barriers and facilitators to put the legislation into operation in the school environment. Finally, a fictitious situation was presented to the students in which they would conduct FNE actions to implement the law. The debates were recorded, transcribed, and similar speeches were grouped by Bardin's content analysis. The adolescents considered the cafeteria law to be positive but pointed out that they had not yet adapted to the legislation. They identified the price of healthy foods and the poor disclosure of the law as barriers, and the school and family were facilitators. Concerning FNE, they suggested innovative means of dissemination, such as social networks and the use of figures and colors to draw the reader's attention. Despite being well received by adolescents, the mere passing of a law is not enough to change dietary practices already adopted in the school environment, if it is not associated with a strategy of dissemination and awareness of the entire school community.