Promoting fruit and vegetable consumption: Methodological protocol of a randomized controlled community trial

Abstract

This study aimed to develop community educational activities in Brazilian primary health care settings. A randomized controlled community trial was conducted to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption (FV-RCT) in a representative sample of consumers aged 20 years or older in a Brazilian city. The fruit and vegetable consumption was classified according to the transtheoretical model's stages of change, reflecting different degrees of readiness for change. The educational activities were based on the transtheoretical model and a problematizing-dialogic pedagogy, planned by an interdisciplinary team, using information collected in a qualitative pilot study. The actions were conducted over seven months, and baseline data were collected from 1483 participants. The educational strategies included workshops interspersed with motivational messages conveyed via postcard, interactive environment-based activities, and informative material. In the workshops, different techniques were used - conversation circles, image theatre, self-portraits, cooking and art as experience. The applied intervention based on the chosen theories implied in a refinement of the intervention, but, nevertheless, proved to be feasible for large population groups and to the scenario of health services. Thus, this interdisciplinary FV-RCT study represents an effort to advance methodological issues and provide theoretical subsidies for actions.

Keywords: CG, control group; FV, fruit and vegetable; HAP, Health Academy Program; Health education; IG, intervention group; Intervention study; Nutrition education; Primary health care; TM, transtheoretical model.

Fig. 1

Timeline for educational strategies development.

Fig. 2

Description of educational strategies.

Fig. 3

Educational strategies according to the groupings based on the Transtheoretical Model stages of change.