Resumen de Efeitos de vídeos de alimentação saudável sobre escolhas alimentares de crianças

Gilvandro Figueiredo Souza, Olivia Misae Kato

• English

  Currently, obesity is considered one of the largest epidemics in the world, bringing a series of psychological and social problems. Therefore, verifying the variables that effectively influence food choices and consumption certainly has social validity and undeniable relevance. The present study investigated the effects of healthy food videos on the dietary choices of 24 students from a public school, both sexes, aged 10 to 11 years. Those responsible signed written informed consent form authorizing the participation of children in the experiment. The children selected were those that the responsible duly completed the food consumption questionnaire and the general questionnaire. The food frequency questionnaire discriminated between healthy and unhealthy food choices. The general questionnaire evaluates the socioeconomic profile of the participants. The children selected were the ones that had the highest indexes of unhealthy food choices, as reported in the food frequency questionnaire. The experimental design involved three phases divided into two conditions: exposures to short and long videos.

  Phase 1 consisted of the application of the food appointment test, with correction procedure, whose objective was to verify and / or teach the correct naming of the foods that would be used. Each food was presented between healthy and unhealthy, including fruit, sweet, snacks, drinks and plate with food. In Phase 2, were applied, food choices test, videos display, comprehension tests of the story and reapplication of the food choices test. In the food choice test choices were required from actual food photos, displayed in a table with six available foods, three healthy and three unhealthy foods. Educational videos were categorized into two conditions, short videos that were less than 2 minutes long and long videos lasting over 2 to 9 minutes. After exposure to each condition, participants underwent tests that assessed the understanding of the story about the importance of eating healthy foods. In Phase 3, the maintenance of the choices was verified after a week, reapplying the test of food choices. The results point to an increase in the number of healthy food choices for most children. However, after one week, reapplication of the tests showed the temporary effect of the videos, since the percentages of the children’s choices were similar to those seen at the first test performed. It is concluded that exposure to educational videos on healthy eating may influence the choices of healthy foods for children, but this effect does not seem to be lasting. Thus, it can be stated that the effect of the videos influenced the choices of healthy foods and, therefore, may also influence the consumption of this type of food. However, maintaining healthy choices and consuming these foods may depend on other contingencies that need to be addressed.

• português

  O presente estudo investigou os efeitos de vídeos de alimentos saudáveis sobre as escolhas alimentares de 24 crianças, com idade entre 10 e 11 anos, eutróficas ou acima do peso, de ambos os sexos. O delineamento envolveu três fases divididas na Condição I, com exposição a vídeos curtos e longos e Condição II, a ordem inversa dos vídeos. A Fase 1 consistiu na aplicação do teste de nomeação dos alimentos, com procedimento de correção. Na Fase 2, era aplicado o teste de escolhas de alimentos, a exposição aos vídeos sobre escolhas de alimentos saudáveis, testes de compreensão do relato dos personagens e reaplicação do teste de escolhas de alimentos. Na Fase 3, verificou-se a manutenção das escolhas após uma semana, reaplicando o teste de escolhas de alimentos. Os resultados apontam um aumento no número de escolhas de alimentos saudáveis para a maioria das crianças. Contudo, após uma semana, a reaplicação dos testes mostrou o efeito temporário dos vídeos para a maioria delas. Concluise que a exposição a vídeos de alimentação saudável podem influenciar nas escolhas de preferências por alimentação saudável, porém, esse efeito não tem caráter permanente.