Nutritionists' perception of the National School Feeding Program on food and nutrition education.

Introduction: The factors that determine the behavior and feeding practices are multiple and complex. Within the National School Feeding Program (PNAE), the approach to this topic should be carried out in a multidisciplinary and intersectoral manner, with food and nutrition education (EAN) as the strategy. The nutritionist is inserted in this context as the technical responsible, or technical framework of the program, thus being an important component among the actors responsible for the development of EAN actions in the school environment. Objective: To know the perception of the nutritionist acting in the PNAE regarding the activities of food and nutrition education, the impact of training in practices and identify the facilities and barriers existing in this context. Methods: We conducted qualitative research with interviews and recording of the speeches for later analysis of content. We analyzed the confrontation of ideas by convergences, divergences and complementarities. Results and Conclusion: It was noted that, despite the recent strengthening of the EAN, there is still a gap between what is proposed by legislation and the practice undertaken by professionals. The main deficiencies described by them were the absence of a consistent theoretical-methodological basis guiding the practices of EAN, insufficient technical framework and difficulty in integrating the different areas, which generates discontinuity in the learning process and inefficiency of actions. Strategies such as periodic courses, training to better plan and involve teams, as well as improvement of working conditions and quantitative of professionals in all dimensions of the PNAE, are indispensable for the full implementation of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]