Percepções dos pais sobre os hábitos alimentares dos seus filhos e sobre estratégias para mudanças de hábitos

Abstract

Global nutrition is in the middle of a crisis and several are the consequences from the population’s feeding habits changes. In several countries, there are cases of malnutrition, but, on the other hand, there are thousand of obese people including kids and teens. Thus, it is important to study strategies that may figure out such issues related to global nutrition, and especially to teach kids to choose a more responsible food consumption. In this study, we presented two strategies that may be used as alternatives to change the feeding behavior of children and teens. Before what we exposed, the general aim of this study was to analyze the parents’perception in relation to feeding habits and to a more responsible food consumption of their kids. The sprecific aims were to identify parents’perception over their kids’choice, to identify if the parents’choice influence over their kids’ and to identify parents’opinion related to the use of nudges in school canteens. For these purposes, we devolped a questionnaire, divided into four sections. First section consisted in social and demographic issus; second one was composed by the food choice questionnaire; third one was compsed by the questionnaire by showing differetn kinds of nudges and non nudges and the fourth was composed by questions related to feeding habits. We applied the statistic techinique of Confirmatory Factor Analysis and, afterwards, the structural model for data analysis. Results showed a high percentual of parents support regarding the use of nudges in school canteens. The non nudges were also aproved, but in smal percentage. With regard to parents’ perception over their kids feeding habots, most of them assured their kids have healthy habits. With regard to their food choices they offer their kids and if these choices influenced their kids habits, our results showed that the positively influence them and ‘health’, ‘natural content’and ‘price’ were aspects that influenced them mostly. Under this perspective, our findings suggest promisers strategies, able to reach places were kids and teens mostly take their food choices: at home and at school.