The aim of this study was to investigate the role of intimate partner violence in the early interruption of exclusive breastfeeding in the first three months of life. We used data from a prospective cohort of 564 children attending four primary health clinics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Interruption of exclusive breastfeeding was defined as a child receiving any kind of liquid or solid, regardless of breast milk intake, measured by a 24 hour recall. The Portuguese version of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS-1) was used to assess intimate partner violence. Associations were expressed as prevalence ratios and relative risks and their respective 95% confidence intervals. Children of mothers who experienced severe violence had 30% greater likelihood of early interruption of exclusive breastfeeding in the second month of life as compared to those who did not experience this type of violence. Strategies in health services for promoting exclusive breastfeeding should consider identifying and addressing family violence.

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Objectives: Brazilians comprise a rapidly growing immigrant Latino group in the USA, yet little research has focused on health issues affecting Brazilian children in immigrant families. As increasing evidence is documenting fathers’ influential role in their children’s eating behaviours and ultimately weight status, the current study sought to explore the Brazilian immigrant fathers’ perspectives and practices related to child’s feeding practices and their preschool-aged children’s eating. Design: Qualitative study using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Interviews were conducted in Portuguese by native Brazilian research staff using a semi-structured interview guide. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analysed thematically using a hybrid approach that incorporated deductive and inductive analytical approaches. Setting: Massachusetts. Participants: Twenty-one Brazilian immigrant fathers who had at least one child aged 2–5 years. Results: Results revealed fathers’ awareness of the importance of healthy eating for their children, their influence as role models and their involvement in feeding routines of their preschool-aged children. Moreover, fathers were receptive to participating in family interventions to promote their children’s healthy eating. Nearly all fathers reported wanting to learn more and to do ‘what’s right’ for their children. Conclusions: The current study provides new information about Brazilian immigrant fathers’ views about factors influencing their children’s healthy eating behaviours and paternal feeding practices. Future research should quantify fathers’ feeding styles and practices and solicit fathers’ input in the design of culturally appropriate family interventions targeting the home environment of preschool-aged children of Brazilian immigrant families.

Research focusing on the relationship between interpersonal violence and nutritional status in adolescence is scarce and has distinct results. The objective of this study is to investigate the association of family physical and sexual violence with inadequate nutritional status in Brazilian adolescents. We used data from the 2015 Brazilian National Survey of School Health. This study includes 11.850 students, older than 13 years, attending from sixth to ninth grade of elementary school and from the 1st to the 3rd year of high school. The exposures were family physical violence and rape. The outcome was nutritional status, assessed through body mass index. The association between exposures and outcome were investigated using a multinomial logistic regression model. These analyses were adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, and family variables. The prevalence of family physical violence victimization was approximately 14% among adolescents for both sexes. The prevalence of rape was 4.6% and 5.7% among male and female adolescents, respectively. Family physical violence was not associated with being underweight, overweight, or obese, in either crude or adjusted models for both sexes. Sexual violence was inversely associated with being underweight only for male adolescents (OR: 0.21, CI 95%: 0.06–0.75). In female adolescents, sexual violence was associated with overweight/obesity (OR: 1.64, CI 95%:1.15–2.33). In this study, rape, but not family physical violence victimization, was associated with nutritional status in adolescents of both sexes. Nonetheless, this association was different between boys and girls. Rape was inversely associated with being underweight in male adolescents, whereas, in female adolescents, it was associated with excess body weight.

The present study describes the cross-cultural adaptation of the Brazilian version (Rio de Janeiro) of the Caregiver’s Feeding Styles Questionnaire (CFSQ) among caregivers of children aged 3 to 6 years enrolled in a family health service in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The cross-cultural adaptation process included the following phases: (1) literature review; (2) translation and back-translation of the instrument; (3) assessment of semantic equivalence through cognitive interviews with caregivers; (4) discussion with experts; (5) pretesting of the revised version; and (6) assessment of psychometric characteristics, including reliability and validity of the scale. Results showed the appropriateness of the caregiver’s feeding styles concept within the Brazilian culture and that the instrument was understandable to caregivers enrolled in a family health service. The CFSQ measurements showed perfect intra-observer reliability for “demandingness” and almost perfect for “responsiveness”. Inter-observer reliability was almost perfect for both dimensions, “demandingness” and “responsiveness”. Factor analysis of the Brazilian CFSQ version proposed an instrument with one dimension and 13 items. The satisfactory results of the cross-cultural adaptation of the CFSQ suggest its applicability in the population of interest with the possible reduction of some scale items.

Resumo O objetivo deste artigo é investigar a relação da violência física entre parceiros íntimos (VFPI) e a oferta de leite materno (LM), os substitutos do leite materno (SLM) e o uso de mamadeiras entre crianças entre 12 e 15 meses. Estudo transversal com mães em unidades de saúde do município do Rio de Janeiro, realizado entre junho de 2005 e dezembro de 2009. A VFPI foi identificada pela versão brasileira da Conflict Tactics Scales 1- Form R e as práticas de alimentação foram identificadas por recordatório de 24 horas. As associações foram verificadas por regressão logística mediante estimativas de razão de chances (RC) e intervalos de confiança de 95%. O leite materno foi ofertado a 58,5% das crianças e os substitutos do leite materno a 88,5%, e 70,5% das crianças usavam mamadeira. A violência física foi observada em 26,7% dos casais. Em lares onde os casais se agridem fisicamente há uma maior chance de não ofertar leite materno, maior chance de ofertar substitutos do leite materno e de usar mamadeira comparado aos lares onde não existe violência física. Os resultados chamam atenção para a necessidade de se investigar as relações intrafamiliares em casos que são identificadas práticas inadequadas de aleitamento, e de capacitar os profissionais de saúde para apoiar as famílias em situações de conflito.