Nutritional care and weight gain in pregnant adolescents: a quantitative and qualitative approach

This study sought to evaluate the impact of nutritional assistance (intervention) on total gestational weight gain in adolescents and to understand the perceptions of adolescents regarding the intervention. It is a quantitative and qualitative survey using triangulation methods conducted in a public maternity hospital in Rio de Janeiro with 204 adolescents, divided into pre-intervention and intervention groups. The hypothesis of homogeneity of proportions was tested by bivariate and multivariate analysis using Poisson regression with robust variance. The qualitative approach was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 12 adolescents, whose data were submitted to content analysis. The results indicate that the intervention did not have a positive effect on the adequacy of total gestational weight gain. The adolescents perceived the dietary plan as a set of rules incompatible with their conditions as pregnant women. The category "almost every consultation was the same" emerged as a synthesis of the perceptions on the intervention. It was concluded that there is a need to reassess the technical and scientific marker tools of nutritional assistance and turn it into care focused around making shared decisions.

Weight gain; Pregnancy in adolescence; Nutritional status