Factores relacionados con la promoción de la alimentación saludable en los centros de educación secundaria

Abstract

Introduction: This doctoral thesis appears as a compendium of publications. The research follows three stages and it is contextualized in a social reality where there has been an alarming increase in obesity among young people, due to the withdrawal from Mediterranean diet, among other things. This creates the need to deepen on the process that produces this social phenomenon and its consequences and to propose solutions that promote healthy eating in secondary educational settings, turning the different agents involved into health agents. Goals: The main goal is to make a general diagnosis about the nutritional health in high school students´ school day. Methodology: The research is developed in three stages, focusing on each of them in the different agents involved in this aim: student body, family and school. For this it has been used mixed-methods. This used methodology combines and complements qualitative and quantitative research techniques in the same practice, making it possible to get a greater understanding of what is being studied. Results: The research results of phase 1 showed that age also affected the habit of having breakfast at home, the intake of candies and the kind of breakfast consumed by students. Students aged 14 and over, tend to skip breakfast at home, and at the same time, children have a more incomplete breakfast. Students who are physically active, often have a more complete breakfast at home than those students who are not engaged in physical activities.The existence of a high-school cafeteria showed a strong connection with the kind of snack consumed by students, particularly with regard to the intake of candies and packets of crisps which was greater in high-schools with cafeteria. As regards the home environment we have studied in phase 2 of this research, families knew well the composition of a healthy breakfast, though it was not closely related in practice. There had been questionable benefits about what was being sold in the school cafeteria and a diversity of opinions about the real utility. As regards the difficulties found by families so that their children acquire healthy practices in school breakfasts and snacks, it was mentioned the lack of time and convenience at the same time that peer influence and market supply. In education (phase 3), it was found that promoting healthy eating is not a priority in secondary schools in Huelva. Conclusion: It is necessary the development of an integrative model, a global model involving different social, educative, family and health agents so that the promotion of healthy eating can become a reality in the context of secondary education.