Avaliação de programa de prevenção de obesidade em adolescentes de escolas públicas

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the effects of an obesity prevention program on the dietary practices of public school adolescents. METHODS:An intervention was conducted with 331 students aged between 11 and 17 years, enrolled in the 5th and 6th grades of two state public schools in the city of Niterói, Southeastern Brazil, in 2005. These schools were categorized into "intervention schools" (IS) and "control schools" (CS) for comparison. Dietary practices were analyzed using self-administered questionnaires before and after the intervention period: fast food consumption; soft drink consumption; replacement of meals for snacks; consumption of fruits and vegetables; and type of food consumed during school breaks. Chi-square test and McNemar's test were applied to compare proportions, considering a value of p <0.05. RESULTS:In the baseline, 185 students participated in the IS (82.2% of those eligible) and 146 students participated in the CS (70.5% of those eligible). In the post-intervention phase, there was a loss of 10.3% of IS adolescents and 27.4% of CS ones. There were no signifi cant changes in dietary practices in CS. In contrast, IS showed an increase in the proportion of students who reported not consuming snacks sold by street vendors (from 36.7% to 50.6%; p=0.02) and adolescents who reported not replacing their lunch (from 44.5% to 65.2%; p<0.01) and dinner (from 38.4% to 54.3%; p<0.01) for snacks. The main favorable change was the reduction in the frequency of consumption of fast food snacks in IS, when compared to CS (from 72.7% to 54.4%; p=0.001).CONCLUSIONS: Favorable changes in the adolescents' dietary practices were found and they encourage the implementation of programs of this nature. However, long-lasting interventions need to be implemented and evaluated in terms of their effectiveness.

Avaliacao de projeto de promocao da saude para adolescentes

“…4 However, studies show that merely establishing policies does not promote change, the dimension of the choices needs to be taken into account, in the case of diet, as well as the use of qualitative strategies, to redeem concepts, beliefs and individual and group behavior. 15 In this study, the fact that the research instrument used only indicated aspects related to the participants' lifestyle, without considering the socioeconomic and cultural context; it did not include a comprehensive assessment of dietary and nutritional intake; determinants of lack of physical activity and unhealthy diet were not assessed. Nor was any previous assessment of the participants carried out.…”

“…12 Several studies recommend establishing campaigns to promote healthy habits and changes in behavior in pupils, and others emphasize the importance of educating this population on the risk factors for chronic non-communicable illness and measures for avoiding these illnesses. 1,6,11,15 The PVS sought to promote permanent educational campaigns for teachers and health care professionals, and events promoting health in the partner school communities approaching topics concerned with healthy habits and citizenship through active methodologies. 4 However, studies show that merely establishing policies does not promote change, the dimension of the choices needs to be taken into account, in the case of diet, as well as the use of qualitative strategies, to redeem concepts, beliefs and individual and group behavior.…”

Preschool children and excess weight: the impact of a low complexity intervention in public day care centers

“…Nonetheless, these studies, aside from generally being applied for a very short time, they frequently focus on school students and/or teenagers, which hinder comparisons with the present pilot project [19][20][21] .…”

Processed foods aimed at children and adolescents: sodium content, adequacy according to the dietary reference intakes and label compliance

“…Given the high intake of processed foods by children and adolescents [25][26][27][28] , the replacement of meals by snacks 24,29 and the high sodium contents of the study foods, one can infer that they contribute to a high sodium intake.…”