Educational practices of nutritionists: educational perspectives expressed in the PSE

ABSTRACT Health education is a knowledge production process that expands people’s critical and reflective awareness. The objective of the study was to analyze the educational practices of nutritionists in the School Health Program related to educational perspectives. This was a qualitative, explanatory study, carried out through semi-structured interviews with 22 nutritionists in 10 host cities of health regions in the state of Piauí, in the Northeast region of Brazil. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed according to content analysis by Bardin. After such analysis, they were submitted to the IRaMuTeQ software and presented in word clouds and similarity analysis. The educational practice was related to guidance, transfer, and intervention. Action planning, situational diagnosis, time, and resources were considered in the reports for carrying out the practices. As for health conditions, schools do not always inform professionals about the demands for actions. For the participants, health is the protagonist in facing these actions and there is a lack of intersectoriality between education and health. The educational practices, in general, are guided by the transmission of knowledge, changes in behavior, and an authoritarian nature. The study suggests another perspective of health education with the participation of society focused on the autonomy of the subject.