A Qualitative Exploration of Parents' Food Choices During Early Childhood.

Objective: To explore parents' accounts of the goals they seek when choosing foods for their young children through the lens of goal-systems theory.

Design: In-depth interviews with parents of children aged from 6 months to 5 years.

Setting: Montevideo, Uruguay.

The contributions of civil society to food security in the context of COVID-19: a qualitative exploration in Uruguay.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore and analyse the actions implemented by civil society to contribute to food security in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in Uruguay, a high-income country in South America.

Design: An exploratory systematic approach was used to identify the contributions of civil society to food security through reports in news websites and Facebook posts. Data were analysed based on content analysis following a deductive-inductive approach.

The social representations of complementary feeding.

The social representations of complementary feeding are expected to shape parents' decisions and to provide justification or legitimization for their practices. The aims of the present work were: i) to explore the social representations of complementary feeding in parents and health professionals, ii) to evaluate if the onset of complementary feeding modify social representations in parents, and iii) to compare the representations of parents and pediatricians. Three groups of participants were considered: 170 parents of children who had not started complementary feeding (1-4 months old), 170 parents of children who had started complementary feeding (7-10 months old) and 212 pediatricians.

Social representations of breastfeeding and infant formula: An exploratory study with mothers and health professionals to inform policy making.

Although several efforts to promote breastfeeding have been implemented worldwide, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life remains low. One of the factors responsible for this trend is the widespread sales and marketing of breast-milk substitutes. In this context, the present work aimed at exploring mothers and health professionals' social representations of breastfeeding and infant formula.

Factors underlying compliance with a healthy snacking initiative in the school environment: accounts of school principals in Montevideo (Uruguay).

Objective: To evaluate the implementation of the Uruguayan healthy snacking initiative in primary and secondary schools in the capital, and to explore the factors underlying compliance from the perspective of school principals.

Design: A mixed-method approach was used, which included semi-structured interviews with school principals and a survey of the foods and beverages sold and advertised in the schools.

Setting: Primary and secondary schools in Montevideo (the capital city of Uruguay).