Healthy meals, healthy families: a pilot intervention to improve nutrition knowledge and confidence to prepare healthy meals among low‐income individuals (624.6)

Abstract

Poor dietary behaviors, limited food preparation skills, and low levels of self‐efficacy to prepare healthy meals have been indicated in low‐income and food insecure populations. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the effectiveness of a community cooking demonstration at increasing participants’ confidence to prepare healthy meals with limited resources. Subjects included a convenience sample of 23 low‐income adults associated with Head Start (n=7) or a soup kitchen (n=16) in Muncie, IN. Participants attended a one hour presentation that included a slow‐cooker demonstration, taste testing, and basic information about MyPlate and food safety. Subjects completed a pre‐ and post‐assessment to measure any changes in confidence to cook and in general food and nutrition knowledge. Subjects received a free copy of the cookbook “Slow Cooking on a Budget” and a chance to win a slow cooker. Results indicated that, although there were no significant improvements in participants’ confidence to prepare healthy meals (39.3±11.3 vs. 44.5±9.1; t=1.76, p=0.25), subjects experienced significant gains in knowledge related to the MyPlate food guide (1.2±0.5 vs. 1.8±0.8; t=2.82, p=0.01) and basic food safety (0.7±0.9 vs. 2.5±1.0: t=6.05, p<0.001). Further research is necessary to identify effective strategies for parlaying increased nutrition knowledge into improved self‐efficacy and behavior change.