Abstract:

Nowadays, population have access to a huge amount of information, through open, quick, and quite simple tools. In the case of food and its health, and nutrition issues, the information is usually impacting and not always fully verified. This misinformation can have serious negative influence in the health status of individuals, mainly teenagers and young people, which are very active in using technology and social media, highly influenceable, and often with no clear criteria to differentiate true from fake information.

Pharmacists, nutritionists, and food technologists are professionals with competence on education of people in food and nutrition areas and can have an important role in fighting fake news, thus preserving a better health status on population.

For those reasons, in this work a service experience was performed with University students on the Degrees of Pharmacy, Nutrition and Dietetics and Food Science and Technology, focused on:
i) making them aware of their role on public health promotion;
ii) developing a community service through education of teenagers on how to differentiate fake news from truth information.

The activities were performed by 6 undergraduate students and 3 postgraduate students. With the supervision of 12 University teachers, they created materials to be used in practical workshops developed in a High School in Madrid (Spain), with the participation of 150 students all of them around 14 years old. The materials consisted of audiovisual presentations, games, videos, and other dynamic activities that in an active way could conduct to make the participants more able to detect clues of fake news on the information they receive, learn about fact checking tools, and improve their knowledge on healthy habits related to food and nutrition.

The University students could develop their skills for the education of people, and felt that they can have an impact on society health and nutrition habits, which is perceived by them as a professional activity. Many of the contents of the subjects they study at the University were well fixed and the objective of learning was fulfilled. On the other hand, from the perspective of the service done, the fact that the workshop was conducted by students, closer in age than University teachers, was perceived as positive by the teenagers, and made easier to transmit the intended messages. Their participation was proactive, learning to be critical of incoming information and making right choices about the proposed examples. From their answers to questionnaires, it is shown a change in the information sources that they would consult after the workshop; furthermore, 85 % recognize that after the workshop they know more than before and would recommend the activity to other people.

To conclude, this learning-by-doing experience was highly valuable to both University and High School students. From the point of view of University students, it has contributed to a better knowledge of future professionals, ready to be used in their jobs, as well as to develop oral and educational skills. For High School students, the activity has contributed to improve their criticism about the information they may receive, not only to avoid them to believe fake news, but also to partially stop its transmission; thus, contributing to preserve and improve their own health and that of the people in their environment.

This work is part of UCM-ApS 22/23 proposal "Desmontando Bulos en alimentación".

Keywords:

Learning-by-doing, fake news, foods, nutrition, health.