[Food behavior in student residence halls: a setting for health promotion].

OBJECTIVE To qualitatively describe food practices of students living in a residence hall. METHODS A quantitative and qualitative study was carried out in a drawn sample of 100 university students living in a residence hall in the city of Campinas, Southeastern Brazil, in 2004. Students were interviewed using a questionnaire to collect 24-hour food recall information including open questions on shopping and intake practices. Criteria were established for the analysis of meal quality. The Chi-square and the exact Fisher test were used at a 5% significance level. Representations based on Moscivici's theory of social representations were obtained in the interviews and analyzed. RESULTS Assessment of 24-hour food recall: breakfast--30% of the students skipped it, 13% had full, 37% had standard and 20% had partial meal; lunch--5% skipped, 72% had full, and 23% had partial meal; dinner--1% skipped, 36% had full, and 63% had partial meal. Lunch was the best quality meal and of those who had lunch, 63% had it at the university cafeteria. Of all respondents, 48% had no fruit and 39% had no milk. Most (69%) showed an individual food behavior and 43% thought that having meals together had a positive impact on their food behavior. The experience of becoming the provider of their own food changes the students' food behaviors and representations. CONCLUSIONS Diet quality, patterns of commensality and social representations of food provide input for developing healthy diet care and health promotion.