Life stories told by vegetarians on support and nutritional planning

Abstract

Vegetarian diets can provide benefits for health, prevention, and treatment of diseases and are appropriate at all stages of the life, when properly advised by specialists in nutrition, to prevent deficits in critical nutrients. Because of this, it is relevant to identify the perception of the role of the nutritionist among vegetarians who have not received professional nutritional advice and planning. A qualitative study focused on life stories was conducted, where 10 vegetarians living in Coquimbo and La Serena participated during 2019, selected through snowball sampling, which involved producing qualitative information through a semi-structured interview. Subsequently, qualitative content analysis was used, and two main categories emerged from this analysis. The first category was the biopsychosocial role of the professional nutritionist, and the second category was suggestions from vegetarians for care. The analysis highlights the importance of the professional nutritionist in the approach to vegetarians or vegans, who expect from professionals an effective link with their community through instances of food education, low-cost advice, the development of technical and personal skills such as continuous updating and empathetic care. The findings of this study can be taken as a guide for the training and updating of professionals, in addition to proposing nutritional measures in the field of public health and contextualized care for vegetarians.