La apreciación personal del uso de las redes sociales, la percepción corporal y las conductas alimentarias de riesgo, en mujeres jóvenes entre 18-25 años de la Carrera de Nutrición y Dietética de la Universidad de Cuenca, 2021

Abstract

Background: Social networks and current technology are an important part of life and relationships, especially in young people. Images of the perfect body stand out in these networks, creating unattainable stereotypes, generating social pressure to imitate these images, with women being the main affected, generating dissatisfaction with their body perception, as well as possible risky eating behaviors that endanger their health. physical and mental health of those affected. Objectives: To describe body perception, the use of social networks and risky eating behaviors in young women between 18-25 years of age from the University of Cuenca in the Nutrition and Dietetics Program. Methods: Qualitative, descriptive narrative study. The sample was selected for convenience, following the snowball method, among women aged 18 to 25, students of the Nutrition career at the University of Cuenca, who met the inclusion criteria, the sampling technique used was by saturation, conducted in-depth interviews with the selected participants, the interviews had been transcribed in their entirety, the categories and subcategories of analysis had been defined, then the Atlas Ti qualitative analysis program was used for data processing. Results: Social networks have an impact on body perception, generating in some cases body dissatisfaction, which can lead to risky eating behaviors, in the students of the nutrition and dietetics career at the University of Cuenca. Conclusions: The use of social networks influences our lives, body perception is mostly dissatisfaction, risky eating behaviors are a public health problem, we must consider mental health within nutritional treatments.