Food behavior in student residence halls: a setting for health promotion

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To qualitatively describe food practices of students living in a residence hall. METHODS: A quantitative and qualitative study was carried out in a drawn sample of 100 university students living in a residence hall in the city of Campinas, Southeastern Brazil, in 2004. Students were interviewed using a questionnaire to collect 24-hour food recall information including open questions on shopping and intake practices. Criteria were established for the analysis of meal quality. The Chi-square and the exact Fisher test were used at a 5% significance level. Representations based on Moscivici's theory of social representations were obtained in the interviews and analyzed. RESULTS:Assessment of 24-hour food recall: breakfast - 30% of the students skipped it, 13% had full, 37% had standard and 20% had partial meal; lunch - 5% skipped, 72% had full, and 23% had partial meal; dinner - 1% skipped, 36% had full, and 63% had partial meal. Lunch was the best quality meal and of those who had lunch, 63% had it at the university cafeteria. Of all respondents, 48% had no fruit and 39% had no milk. Most (69%) showed an individual food behavior and 43% thought that having meals together had a positive impact on their food behavior. The experience of becoming the provider of their own food changes the students' food behaviors and representations. CONCLUSIONS: Diet quality, patterns of commensality and social representations of food provide input for developing healthy diet care and health promotion.