Exposição a violência entre parceiros íntimos e alimentação inadequada na infância

Abstract

The consumption of healthy foods should be encouraged from the first years of life, as an adequate and varied diet in childhood, in addition to helping the child's healthy growth, can influence the formation of taste and the child's relationship with food. Dietary guidelines recommend that fresh or minimally processed, varied and predominantly plant-based foods be the basis of infant nutrition and that the consumption of ultra-processed foods (AUP) be avoided. The knowledge generated about the factors associated with infant feeding practices is complex and involves biopsychosocial aspects, including intimate partner violence. Violence between intimate partners is a recurring and global problem, which in addition to the immediate consequences, can result in negative health outcomes throughout the victim's life. Couples who experience violence may also have their skills in dealing with the needs of their children compromised, including taking care of their food, resulting in an inappropriate diet for their age. The present study aims to investigate the association between childhood exposure to IPV and inadequate nutrition in children aged 3 to 5 years attended at a family clinic. The data that was analyzed comes from a more comprehensive sectional study conducted with children seen at a Family Health Clinic in Rio de Janeiro. In this work, children's food was measured using a structured questionnaire, which contained different types of food, from fresh foods from different groups to AUP. Food diversity was evaluated based on the Proposal of the World Health Organization and classified as satisfactory diversity (≥ 4 food groups) and unsatisfactory (< 4 food groups) and the consumption of AUP was classified as high when it was ≥ 5 AUP.Violence between partners was investigated using the Portuguese version of the Conflict Tactics Scales - 2 instrument. Other variables related to the mother, the child and the environment in which they live were also included in the analyzes as possible confounders. The results of the present study show that the prevalence of psychological violence in relationships is high, about 80% of women reported having experienced at least one episode of this violence in the last year. The rate of physical violence among couples was almost 25%. Regarding infant feeding, the results show that almost all children (96.7%) had a satisfactory dietary diversity, however, 44.5% of them had a high consumption of AUP. Psychological violence between the couple increased the chances of a high consumption of AUP by the child more than three times (OR = 3.852; 95% CI = 0.986-15.050; p = 0.052). These results show a positive association between conjugal violence and consumption of AUP in childhood. Future studies are needed to elucidate the relationship between violence and infant feeding. Understanding this relationship is of paramount importance for proposing public health policies that take into account not only child nutrition and growth, but also different aspects of the family context, including the presence of violence in their lives.