Phenomenological approaches to qualitative research in the field of Nutrition in Brazil: a literature review.

This study examined scientific production that has used a phenomenological framework in the field of Nutrition in Brazil. An exploratory literature review was carried out in the following databases: Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD); CAPES Catalogue of Theses and Dissertations; SciELO Brazil; LILACS; PubMed; and Google Scholar. The 19 studies examined, published between 2002 and 2024, most set in Salvador, Bahia (n = 10; 52.6%), all used semi-structured interviews (n = 19; 100%). The study objects (hunger, obesity, eating disorders, breastfeeding, healthy eating) are characteristically complex, sensitive, multidimensional issues that form part of the nutrition epidemiology scenario in Brazil and are phenomena that feature in the daily experience of millions of Brazilians. The studies' methodological procedures were based, most prominently and in order of frequency, on the authors: Gadamer, Schutz, Heidegger, Ricoeur and Merleau-Ponty. It is concluded that, in Nutrition, qualitative research with a phenomenological approach continues to prove a substantial, attractive and promising field of study that can make alternative and/or complementary contributions to investigation of Brazil's nutrition problems.