Abstract
The objective in this article is to analyze how adolescents at a school in the interior of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, perceive healthy eating. A descriptive and exploratory study was undertaken, based on the qualitative method. Forty adolescents between 10 and 14 years of age were investigated, using a semistructured interview. The interviews were analyzed using the software Alceste, which evidenced two thematic axes: Eating practices, divided in two classes (routine eating diary and Eating at weekends); and Education practices, consisting of four classes (Factors interfering in and facilitating the maintenance of healthy eating, Role of the school in the education process for healthy eating, Knowledge on healthy eating, The family and the promotion of healthy eating). Although the interviewed adolescents are familiar with healthy eating, they do not always put it in practice, due to the multiple factors that interfere in their preferred diet. The school and the family play a fundamental role in encouraging healthy eating. The school needs to accomplish eating education practices that encourage the consumption of locally produced foods.
Highlights
Adolescence represents a phase of transition between childhood and adult life, marked by significant changes in the biological, psychological and social dimensions[1]. This period is extremely important for the adolescents to choose a healthy lifestyle, as it is when habits and attitudes are established, including eating habits[2]
Dietary education practices can serve as a means to raise the children and adolescents’ awareness about how and why to eat appropriately, as eating and nutrition are basic requisites to promote good health conditions[8]
Health actions focused on children and adolescents should be a priority for all social sectors, in the school context[9,10]
Summary
Adolescence represents a phase of transition between childhood and adult life, marked by significant changes in the biological, psychological and social dimensions[1]. Nutritional disorders have affected adolescents in areas distant from large urban centers, and studies with this approach remain scarce in these places, despite being necessary to enhance the incentive of appropriate eating practices, with a view to stimulating these subjects’ critical and reflexive capacity on their dietary choices[14]. In this perspective, this study aims to analyze adolescents’ perception about healthy eating at a school in the interior of Pernambuco. This research was based on the theoretical framework of eating practices in adolescence, and dietary and nutritional education, that is, a focus on the adolescent and the school as a place to promote eating
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