The “Comida de República” web-based course to promote healthy eating among college students

ABSTRACT Objective The work aimed to investigate dietary practices of university students after an action aiming to promote adequate and healthy food. Methods The article reports the experience of the distance education course Comida da República, promoted by the Universidade Federal de São Paulo as an educational space for sharing and exchanging knowledge, experiences, and thoughts on eating in the university context, especially in student homes or fraternities (repúblicas). Online questionnaires assessed the profile of participants and changes in their perception or relationship with food. The Students’ t-test was adopted to compare perceptions before and after the intervention, and content analysis for qualitative data. Results The course had 201 students enrolled and 82 who concluded it, with 35.4% living in repúblicas. Before the course, 89.6% of those who completed the course indicated the need to improve their diets, and 57.3% classified their diets as “regular”. There was a significant change in perception after the course: 58.5% of those who completed it rated their food as “good”. Dietary changes were categorized into two themes: “vision on food production and distribution” and “food and meal consumption”. The emerging codes show a greater awareness and criticism about food systems and a greater appreciation of cooking, commensality, and unprocessed and minimally processed foods. Participants identified environmental, personal, and interpersonal barriers (67.1%) to dietary changes. The course emerged as a facilitator of these changes. Conclusions This intervention proved to be an important educational tool to promote adequate and healthy eating, in addition to contributing to the planning and execution of student affairs and food security policies.