Food consumption and remote working conditions among Brazilian Primary Schools teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic / Consumo de alimentos y condiciones de trabajo remoto en maestros brasileños de básica durante la pandemia de COVID-19

Introduction: Teaching work, which is characterized by being exhausting, with a significant workload, with synchronous and/or asynchronous remote classes. Objective: To describe associations between the working conditions of school teachers at home and their food consumption during the suspension of face-to-face classes. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study using a self-administered online questionnaire with 15,372 working teachers from Minas Gerais, Brazil. The dependent variables analyzed were the consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods. Independent variables included sociodemographic factors, remote work conditions, understanding of online technologies, computer access, and quality of Internet connection. The Poisson model with robust variance was used to determine the association between working conditions and food consumption. Results: In the analysis of the adjusted multivariate model, there was a significant association between eating habits and the following variables: gender, age, working hours (per week), feelings regarding teachers' work during the pandemic, working hours during the pandemic and quality work internet connection. Our data shows that teachers' remote working conditions are associated with worse food consumption. They also showed that working hours equal to or greater than 40 hours per week, feelings of dissatisfaction with working conditions during the pandemic, increased working hours during the pandemic and poor quality of internet connection were variables correlated with the consumption of unhealthy foods. Conclusions: Remote working conditions during the pandemic influenced primary school teachers' food choices. More studies are needed to delve deeper into issues related to teachers' working conditions and the implications for food choices(AU)

Introducción: La labor docente se caracteriza por ser agotadora, con una importante carga horaria, con clases remotas síncronas y/o asíncronas. Objetivo: Describir la asociación existente entre las condiciones del trabajo remoto de los docentes de la educación básica y el consumo de sus alimentos durante el período de suspensión de las clases presenciales. Métodos: Es un estudio transversal mediante cuestionario en línea autoadministrado con 15.372 docentes activos en Minas Gerais, Brasil. Las variables dependientes analizadas fueron el consumo de los alimentos saludables y de los no saludables. Las variables independientes incluyeron los factores sociodemográficos, las condiciones del trabajo remoto, la comprensión de las tecnologías en línea, el acceso a las computadoras así como la calidad de la conexión a la Internet. Se utilizó el modelo de Poisson con variación robusta para determinar la asociación entre las condiciones del trabajo y el consumo de los alimentos. Resultados: En el análisis del modelo multivariado ajustado hubo una asociación significativa entre los hábitos alimentarios y las siguientes variables: el género, la edad, la jornada laboral semanal, el sentimiento sobre el trabajo durante la pandemia, la jornada laboral durante la pandemia y la calidad de la conexión a la internet. Nuestros datos demuestran que las condiciones del trabajo remoto de los docentes están asociadas con un empeoramiento en el consumo de los alimentos. También mostraron que la jornada laboral igual o superior a unas 40 horas semanales, los sentimientos de insatisfacción con las condiciones laborales, el aumento de la jornada laboral y la mala calidad de la conexión a la Internet durante la pandemia fueron variables correlacionadas con el consumo de alimentos no saludables. Conclusiones: Las condiciones del trabajo remoto durante la pandemia influyeron en las elecciones alimentarias de los docentes de la educación básica. Se necesitan más estudios para profundizar en los aspectos relacionados con las condiciones laborales de los docentes y sus implicaciones en la elección de sus alimentos(AU)

Food consumption changes among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The present study aimed to analyze changes in food consumption among teachers of state schools in Minas Gerais in the context of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This is a cross-sectional study of teachers at elementary, middle, and high schools in Minas Gerais. An online questionnaire was made available to all participants through the Google Forms platform. For the analysis, sociodemographic, economic, occupational profile, health conditions, and behavioral/habitual variables were used. Food consumption was assessed through the weekly frequency of eating foods considered healthy and unhealthy before and during the pandemic. The changes observed in the frequency were classified as: decreased intake, no change in intake, and increased intake during the pandemic. Statistical analysis was performed using bivariate and multiple analysis using the Multinomial Logistics Regression model. The data were tabulated with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 18.0. A total of 15,641 teachers participated in this study, with an average age of 42.96 (±9.27) years, and most of them were female (81.9%). During the pandemic, approximately 40% reported altered sleep quality and alcohol consumption, and lack of physical activity with 60.4% of the professionals categorized as overweight. During this period, there was an increase in the consumption of sweets (19.5%), soft drinks (13.3%), sausages (12.0%), frozen foods (8.9%), salty foods (6.3%), vegetables (13.1%), fruits (12.6%), and wholegrain products (8.3%). In the regression analysis, several factors were found to be associated with changes in teachers' food consumption in a bidirectional way when associated with variables related to sociodemographic characteristics, occupational profile, general health, and lifestyle.