Comportamiento en la alimentación y actividad física de preescolares al finalizar un proyecto de promoción de hábitos saludables

Abstract

Background: In the preschool stage, the teaching staff and / or the formal caregivers play an important role as health promoters, which will have a short and long term impact. General Objective: To identify the feeding and physical activity behavior of the preschool children at the end of an intervention project to promote healthy habits in the Infantile Development Centers of the Municipality of Cuenca (CDIs). Methodology: A quali-quantitative mixed study was carried out. The qualitative approach was carried out through non-participatory observations to children and to the educators during the days of attendance of the children to the CDIs. In addition, structured interviews were conducted with the food service staff of the CDIs to learn how the children's menu is prepared once a training course within the intervention project has been completed. Structured interviews were also conducted with educators to identify the most useful ludic and audiovisual material to teach children eating habits and physical activity. The quantitative study was carried out through the analysis of the quality of the menu eaten by children in the CDIs. For this study, a validated questionnaire was applied. Result: It was observed that the children's eating behavior depends on the control that the educator has, and it is different in each CDI; so, in some CDIs the children eat in a more relaxed way while in others they scream, hit things, etc. The food staff indicates that they have a similar organization in all CDIs, however, menus are altered for different reasons; this fact brings benefits and disadvantages. The teachers commented that stories and food replicas were within the preferred nutrition material to work with children. On the other hand, the analysis of the menus showed an ACCEPTABLE quality, with the fulfillment of 59%. Conclusions: The majority of preschoolers eat three times of food in the CDIs. In addition, it was observed that the attitude and habits that the educators have at the table influence directly on the feeding behavior of the children at the time of eating. Consequently, it is very important to monitor all aspects and to correct the factors that influence the children's eating behavior