Educational practices of nutritionists: educational perspectives expressed in the PSE

Abstract

Health education is a knowledge production process that expands people’s critical and reflective awareness. The objective of the  study was to analyze the educational  practices of nutritionists in the School  Health Program related to educational  perspectives. This was a qualitative,  explanatory study, carried out through  semi-structured interviews with 22  nutritionists in 10 host cities of health  regions in the state of Piauí, in the  Northeast region of Brazil. The interviews  were transcribed and analyzed according to  content analysis by Bardin. After such  analysis, they were submitted to the  IRaMuTeQ software and presented in word  clouds and similarity analysis. The  educational practice was related to  guidance, transfer, and intervention. Action  planning, situational diagnosis, time, and  resources were considered in the reports  for carrying out the practices. As for health  conditions, schools do not always inform  professionals about the demands for  actions. For the participants, health is the  protagonist in facing these actions and  there is a lack of intersectoriality between  education and health. The educational  practices, in general, guided by the  transmission of knowledge, changes in  behavior, and an authoritarian nature. The  study suggests another perspective of  health education with the participation of  society focused on the autonomy of the  subject.