Identifying elements of empowerment and autonomy in food choices in Food and Nutrition Education groups: A qualitative research

Resumen

Introduction: Public health policies have reinforced the importance of empowerment and autonomy of individuals, but these aspects are unfamiliar in the Nutrition field. Aim: To identify elements that contribute to the strengthening of empowerment and autonomy in food choices of Food and Nutrition Education Groups participants. Methods: A qualitative research from the perspective of social representations was carried out in the Primary Health Care in São Paulo city, Brazil. Two groups containing patients with chronic diseases were developed. These patients, between 47 and 78 years old, attended an average of 6 group meetings, within a three-month period. To explore the experiment patients, in order to understand how they attribute senses and meanings to their food choices, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 15 patients, post-intervention. To analyze the data, thematic content analysis was applied. Results: Five themes were identified: self-perception, information and knowledge, personal ability, attitude and active adaptation towards choices. The first four were identified as elements of empowerment, because they evidenced the expansion of individuals' capacity to think and act critically towards food choices. The last theme was formed by the confrontation of meanings from determinants, accountability and internal negotiation, which proved to be elements of autonomy, since they have configured transformations constructed by the participants themselves, post-intervention. Conclusions: The identified elements demonstrated to compose the evaluation of autonomy in individuals’ food choices, being able to constitute rating indicators of Food and Nutrition Education, as well as to evaluate and monitor care practices recommended in health promotion.