Promover uma alimentação saudável
: intervenção de enfermagem comunitária em contexto escolar

Translated title of the thesis: Promoting healthy eating: community nursing intervention in a school context
  • Mafalda Lemos Martins Brochado Ribeiro (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

School is the privileged place for health education, as it is the setting where children learn how to apply knowledge to acquire attitudes and behaviors that foster a healthy lifestyle. Healthy eating enables children to develop and grow up healthy. Community Nursing, in the context of school health, contributes to increasing health literacy, promoting it and preventing illness in the educational community. The aim of the intervention project was to help promote health literacy among children and their families, empowering them to adopt healthy eating habits when preparing school lunchboxes. It was developed in a Community Care Unit, part of a Health Center Grouping, based on the Health Planning Methodology and Nola Pender's Health Promotion Model as a theoretical reference. The diagnosis of the situation was carried out in an elementary school, with three 1st-grade classes, a sample of 67 children, using a snack record sheet from the "My Lunchbox" project run by the Alentejo Regional Center of the Platform Against Obesity. Identified issues included a high intake of sugary, salty, and fatty foods and a decreased intake of cereals, dairy, fruits, vegetables and water. Consequently, specific objectives and targets were established, achieved through health education sessions for children and their families, a pamphlet and poster, and an informative session involving healthcare professionals. The evaluation of the project revealed health gains, with an increase in the presence of dairy products, cereals, fruit, vegetables and water and a decrease in the presence of sugary foods, rich in salt and fat. It was an enriching project that contributed to changing the behavior of children and their families in the composing school lunchboxes, meeting the competencies of the Nurse Specialist in Community Health and Public Health Nursing and the academic competencies for obtaining a Master's degree in Nursing.
Date of Award23 May 2024
Original languagePortuguese
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorCândida Ferrito (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Healthy eating
  • Community nursing
  • School health
  • Health literacy

Designation

  • Mestrado em Enfermagem

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