Community Nutrition

Objectives

a) To understand the importance of community nutrition in comparison to interventions at individual level

b) To acquire knowledge and develop skills on the identification of nutritional problems in different population groups

c) To acquire skills to design, implement and evaluate programs of community nutrition

d) To acquire skills to plan and conduct nutrition education sessions

e) To understand the methodology to develop food guides and understand their importance for nutrition education

f) To identify different types of food labelling systems and understand their importance for the promotion of healthy dietary choices

g) To know different community nutrition programs

General characterization

Code

41037

Credits

4

Responsible teacher

Prof.ª Doutora Catarina Maria Roquette de Gouveia Durão

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

 

Bibliography

. Boyle Marie A. 2016. Community nutrition in action: an entrepreneurial approach. 7th edition. Cengage Learning. Boston.

· Rodrigues S.S.P., Franchini B., Graça P., de Almeida M.D.V. A New Food Guide for the Portuguese Population: Development and Technical Considerations. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2006. 38:189-195.

· Montagnese C. et al. European food-based dietary guidelines: A comparison and update. Nutrition. 2015.31: 908-915.

· Temple N.J. and Fraser J. Food labels: A critical assessment. Nutrition. 2014. 30: 257-260.

· Carrilho T. and Amaral F. Da Rotulagem de Géneros Alimentícios à Informação ao Consumidor. Revista Nutrícias. 2014. 23.6-7.

· FAO and United Arab Emirates University. 2019. Stepping up school-based food and nutrition education: Exploring challenges, finding solutions and building partnerships. Rome

Teaching method

The course is organized in lectures and theorethical-practical (TP) classes: 1 weekly lecture for all students with a duration of 50 min each; 1 TP class per week with the duration of 1,5 hrs with a maximum of 20 students. During the TP classes, work in small groups will be developed with the aim of designing a community nutrition program, of develop educational materials and of conducting simulated nutrition education sessions

Evaluation method

The evaluation has a practical component and a final exam (0-20). The assessment of TP teaching is continuous, corresponding to 40% of the final grade and taking into account the following criteria: performance and attendance of students; quality of the practical reports; attitude and knowledge demonstrated by the students. The final exam accounts for 60% of the final grade and covers all the theoretical and practical topics taught. The presence in the examination is conditional to attendance to at least 2/3 of the TP classes and to a TP grade of at least 9.5. To be approved, the final exam grade has to be at least 9.5.

Subject matter

I. Community nutrition vs. Public Health Nutrition: general concepts and its importance for health promotion

II. Community nutrition programs (objectives, food chain, intervention strategies and team-work)

III. Plan and manage community nutrition programs (diagnosis, identification of problems and needs, steps and indicators)

IV. Evaluation of community nutrition programs

V. Nutrition education (nutrition education models and theories, barriers and success strategies in nutrition education, nutrition education campaigns)

VI. The nutritionist role in different population groups (adults, elderly and children) and in different contexts (municipalities, schools, primary health care centres and workplaces)

VII. Food guides: methodologies of development and their importance for nutrition education

VIII. Food labelling: different types and their importance for the promotion of healthy food choices

IX. Examples of community nutrition program

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: