USE OF DIALOGICAL METHODOLOGIES IN FOOD AND NUTRITION EDUCATION GROUPS IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

CHALLENGES AND POTENTIALITIES

Abstract

Food and Nutrition Education is an important tool for the realization of the Human Right to Adequate Food. In the development of these practices, there is a predominance of prescriptive educational approaches, which come to be questioned, and new pedagogical orientations emerge as more favorable, as is the case of Paulo Freire’s dialogical pedagogy. This article seeks to analyze, supported by Freire’s pedagogy, the use of dialogical methodologies in the Food and Nutrition Education activities carried out with groups in Primary Health Care in the west of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. 15 nutritionists participated in this research, who answered an online questionnaire and, subsequently, four granted interviews. From the data analysis, the methodologies used in the practices of Food and Nutrition Education with groups were problematized
and a framework was developed with propositions for the development of dialogical practices. The dialogue in the development of Food and Nutrition Education practices with Unified Health System users appears in several ways: conversation circles, cooking workshops and WhatsApp groups. Despite the use of methodologies to improve communication with users and professionals, the predominant educational approach in the practices of the groups analyzed was the traditional model. It is concluded that the Food and Nutrition Education still have a long way to go in the direction of promoting dialogical practices.