Food and nutrition education improves knowledge about the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a qualitative study

Food and nutrition education is a determining factor for the prevention and control of chronic non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of food and nutrition education actions on the perception and knowledge about the disease, its treatment, and the difficulties faced by people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Longitudinal quantitative-qualitative study, carried out with 10 adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, assisted by the Academic Diabetes Nutrition League of the Federal University of Sergipe. Individuals were invited to participate of the food and nutrition education activities carried out weekly for six weeks. Participants were interviewed before (T0) and after (T1) the activities in order to investigate the knowledge obtained. A semi-structured interview with two questions was used to obtain their responses, the first was related to the perception about the disease and treatment, and the second concerned the difficulties faced in the search for healthy eating. The analysis was performed using the Content Analysis technique. For the first question, responses were categorized into emotional, physiological meanings and treatment, while for the second, external, internal aspects and those without difficulties emerged. After the activities, the responses were positive about the adoption of healthy eating in the treatment. The intervention allowed individuals to gain more knowledge of the disease and aspects related to treatment.