National School Feeding Program in a municipality of Paraíba state: a study under the viewpoint of those who benefit from the Program

• Autor(a) principal: Messias MUNIZ, Vanessa
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Teles de CARVALHO, Alice
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Nutrição
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/nutricao/article/view/9678
• topic: school feeding; PNAE assessment; social program assessment; students; alimentação escolar; avaliação PNAE; avaliação de programas sociais; estudantes

ObjectiveTo analyze the adherence and acceptance of school food and its determinants under the viewpoint of those who benefit from the program. MethodsThe sample consisted of 240 fourth-grade students, randomly selected from 10 public schools in the municipality of João Pessoa, Paraíba. Analysis of the closed questions of the questionnaire was done using simple frequency and the chi-square test. The open questions were categorized based on the central concept of the answers. ResultsMost (87.0%) of the school children considered the Program important and more than 90.0% adhered to it. One hundred and thirty seven (57.3%) of them adhere sometimes, since the food is not always what they are used to eating. Regarding acceptance, 196 school children reported liking the food, mainly because it is tasty. Other characteristics with positive feedback were: quantity (79.8%), variety (92.9%), temperature (85.8%), time available to eat (63.0%) and the way the food was distributed (66.5%). The low percentages of school children who reported only going to school for the food (0.9%) and would drop out of school if the SchoolFeeding Program were canceled (4.4%) are worth mentioning. ConclusionThe main reasons reported by the children for not adhering to the program were lack of familiarity with the food and taste. Adjusting the menu to the children’s eating habits and the importance of the program to diminish school evasion are factors that require further investigation.