Description
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the relation between food and health. Yet, it is unclear whether household attitudes, skills and knowledge about food have developed along with that interest. As several authors point out and considering that the current health communication strategies have not adequately reached the populations, many individuals do not understand the health information well enough to make informed decisions. In order to reduce current inequities, we need more culturally sensitive information presented in a more accessible and appealing format. It’s also crucial for the audiences to have relevant contents. A lot of effort is spent trying to communicate that obesity is increasing, but not much trying to give them a sense of what can be done. Therefore, “Nutriscience” seeks to move beyond awareness-raising about nutrition and instead focus on ways to stimulate action and improving health literacy, empowering the target groups, families with low income with children between 5-10 years old. The development of a wide-ranging type of material and the dissemination through a large array of media (Television, internet, newspaper, texting, smartphones, social networks and public events) allow the possibility of tailoring the contents to individual preferences and to the life circumstances. The partners of “Nutriscience” have a major role in the process of achieving the objectives of the program: The “Misericórdias” give us access to a large network of institutions and families and can assure the sustainability of the project; and RTP (the Portuguese Television Network) through their different channels brings the potential dissemination of the information to other vulnerable groups such as the elderly and unemployed.
Summary of project results
Portugal has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity across Europe. So it is urgent to promote an adequate nutrition since an early age. Nutriciência project followed the Health 2020 WHO Program and the Portuguese Health Program orientations, namely its vision “To maximize health gains through the alignment and integration of sustained efforts of all sectors of society and the use of strategies based on citizenship”. By using a large network of schools and an innovative strategy it was possible to increase knowledge and skills about healthy food at low cost among children, families and teachers. Nutriciência project used a mix of online and offline communication as well as a gamification process, simultaneously at the school and family level. This project stood out for the innovative learning process developed. It was developed an Online Nutrition Training on Healthy eating (MOOC) for educators and co-workers of participant schools. This online course, provided at a Moodle platform, on the form of videos, lasted 5 weeks (total 10 modules). 323 participants (educators and schools’ co-workers) completed the MOOC. This project also developed an online interactive platform. All the intervention took place around this platform, which worked as a social network for participants. Through this platform the project team communicated with families and schools, proposing activities/challenges in the domains worked by the project, fruit, vegetables, sugar and salt. This tool aimed to engage the audience with the project and to enhance knowledge and skills from children and parents, through a gamification approach, where educational materials, nutritional challenges, comic books, and games mobile apps were proposed, encouraging family involvement. Weekly challenges related to healthy eating were launched on the online platform for families to complete (1487 families were registered). One of the challenges proposed to the participant families through the platform was the upload of a healthy recipe. The project team selected 30 of the healthiest recipes uploaded by families, and then presented them in the format of a book and trough a culinary program on the national television. In sum, the outputs of this project were: the MOOC; the online platform; the culinary book and the tv program. This project contributed for an increase in the level of the nutritional literacy of the participant families, assessed by a survey in the beginning and in the end of the project.
Summary of bilateral results
The collaboration with the University of Oslo as a partner and consultant brought an important knowledge and expertise in the field of nutritional education promotion. Nanna Lien, Professor at University of Oslo, provided advice and continued support to the Nutriciência project team in the formulation of issues, such as: survey development, impact evaluation and nutritional messages. Also, provide her know-how in areas such as promotion of healthy dietary habits, sustainability, and how to work with vulnerable populations. The Project Promotor considered that the collaboration with the Norwegian partners was very important for the achievement of the project’s results.