ENI + : desenvolvimento de um aplicativo sobre orientação alimentar e nutricional para idosos

Abstract

The older adult population has been growing in Brazil and abroad. This age group tends to present non-communicable chronic diseases; thus, they need actions and services intended for prevention, promotion, protection and recovery of health and one of those is nutritional guidance. Despite the increasing use of information technologies to spread knowledge on health, especially by means of sites and applications, not all of them contain technical information provided by suitable professionals and very few of them target older adult population. The aim of this study was to develop a mobile application, known as “ENI+”, about nutrition and healthy eating habits based on the concepts of the Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population and the new classification (“NOVA”) of food processing. This means they must be applied to the routine of the older adults and foster the consumption of natural food or at least minimally processed and the rediscovery of cooking. The target audience of this application comprises independent, autonomous older people who can lead their daily lives and those who need home adaptation or supervision of third parties to carry these activities out. The following technologies were used as programming languages: react native and javascript; for database, the developers used postgresql run in docker. The application is made of identification, a quiz on some healthy eating habits and two games that deals with concepts of the classification “NOVA”. This new application intends not only to disclose some knowledge on food, but also to stimulate critical thinking in the making of it and to help develop older adults’ autonomy in a digital environment.