Clock hours of food and nutrition education in curricula of undergraduate nutrition programs: a two-country comparison

ABSTRACT Objective To make a critical and comparative analysis of curricula of Brazilian and Portuguese higher education institutions in terms of clock hours and semester distribution of food and nutrition education in undergraduate nutrition programs, also assessing the main differences among courses classified into thematic axes and professional practice areas. Methods The curricula of fifteen Brazilian and eleven Portuguese nutrition programs were collected and classified into thematic axes and professional practice areas with the method of Document Analysis. Next, we performed statistical analysis regarding the total and proportional clock hours of instruction and their semester distribution to assess the differences between the two countries. The variables of interest were the hours of Food and Nutrition Education and their semester distribution. Results The Food and Nutrition Education axis was the second smallest one, with statistically significant differences among the axes (2.2% of curricula; p<0.001). Brazilian higher education institutions showed greater total clock hours of Food and Nutrition Education (p=0.018), Human and Social Sciences (p=0.003), Public Health (p<0.001), as well as a wider dispersion and lower relative weighted mean for the semester offering of courses (p=0.004) of Food and Nutrition Education courses. Portuguese higher education institutions showed greater total and proportional clock hours of instruction for Exact Sciences (p<0.005; p=0.001, respectively) and more proportional hours of Biologic and Health Sciences (p<0.001). Conclusion Our study found a reduced presence of the area of Food and Nutrition Education in the undergraduate training of nutritionists in both countries.摘要 研究目的：对巴西与葡萄牙高等院校营养学本科专业的食品与营养教育课程的学时分配及学期排布开展批判性对比分析，并评估按主题维度与职业实践领域划分的各类课程间的主要差异。研究方法：本研究收集了15个巴西营养学本科培养方案与11个葡萄牙营养学本科培养方案，采用文献分析法（Document Analysis）将其按主题维度与职业实践领域进行分类。随后针对教学总学时、占比学时及其学期分布开展统计分析，以对比两国间的差异，核心观测变量为食品与营养教育课程的学时及其学期排布情况。研究结果：食品与营养教育主题维度为占比第二小的课程维度，各主题维度间存在统计学显著差异（占课程总学时的2.2%；p<0.001）。巴西高等院校的食品与营养教育课程总学时（p=0.018）、人文与社会科学课程学时（p=0.003）、公共卫生课程学时（p<0.001）均更高，且其食品与营养教育课程的学期开设分布离散度更高、相对加权均值更低（p=0.004）。葡萄牙高等院校的精确科学课程总学时与占比学时均更高（分别为p<0.005、p=0.001），其生物与健康科学课程的占比学时也更高（p<0.001）。研究结论：本研究发现，两国营养学本科人才培养体系中，食品与营养教育领域的占比均偏低。