ANALYSIS OF FOOD HANDLERS BEHAVIOR PREDICTORS IN HOSPITAL CATERING.

• Grant number: 24/17701-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nutrition - Dietetics
• Principal Investigator: Laís Mariano Zanin
• Grantee: Laura Souza Vietri
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of a microlearning-based intervention on the knowledge and predictors of safe food handling behavior of food handlers in a hospital catering, in order to find ways to mitigate the spread of foodborne diseases. This is a quasi-experimental study of a quantitative and qualitative nature. There will be a visit to the research site following the best practices guide of CVS Ordinance 5, in addition to an interview with the nutritionists who manage the catering addressing functions and number of employees, operating logistics, and difficulties and facilities of working in food service and food safety. Data collection with food handlers will be done through the application of a questionnaire addressing the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior and a knowledge questionnaire before and after the intervention. The intervention with food handlers will be based on microlearning, consisting on the exhibition of short videos addressing the different behaviors identified in the questionnaire. A repeated measures Student's t-test with bootstrapping procedures (1000 re-samplings; 95% CI BCa) will be performed to assess the effect of the intervention on each variable studied, considering a significance level of p<0.05. The answers to the open questions and the interviews with the managers will be analysed using the thematic content analysis methodology. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CAEE: 80623124.7.0000.5440).