O11 Association Between Food Security and Food Skills Education Among Cooking Matters Participants

Abstract

ObjectiveTest the association between food security and food skills education among Cooking Matters participants.Use of Theory or ResearchCooking Matters uses evidence-based curricula built upon the Social Cognitive Theory, with a focus on increasing self-efficacy through participatory food skills education to enable positive behavior change.Target AudienceLow-income adults, parents and caregivers, and families during 2017 and 2019.Program DescriptionCooking Matters for Adults, Cooking Matters for Parents, and Cooking Matters for Families curricula were applied to teach participants how to shop for and prepare healthy meals on a limited budget.Evaluation MethodsCooking Matters participants completed pre and post course surveys. Food security was assessed with 1 item to capture “How often do you worry your food might run out before you get money to buy more?” Never or rarely (food secure) versus sometimes, often, or always (food insecure) responses were collapsed. Chi-square tests were applied to test the relationship between food security or food insecurity and demographics, dietary choices, cooking behaviors, and food resource management from pre to post (P < 0.05).ResultsIn total, 20,018 Cooking Matters participants responded to the food security question during 2017 (n = 9,893) and 2019 (n = 10,125). Worry about running out of food significantly decreased from 56.5% to 53.5% (P < 0.001), with 2,622 (13.1%) of all participants decreasing worry. Participants who identified as male, Hispanic or Latino, non-Caucasian, aged 18-39, those with lower education levels, and larger household sizes were significantly more likely to decrease worry about running out of food than other demographic groups (P < 0.01). Participants that decreased worry were significantly more likely to increase healthy dietary choices, positive cooking behaviors, and practice food resource management skills than decrease these variables (P < 0.01).ConclusionMore research is needed to understand the relationship between changes in food security and food skills education. Test the association between food security and food skills education among Cooking Matters participants. Cooking Matters uses evidence-based curricula built upon the Social Cognitive Theory, with a focus on increasing self-efficacy through participatory food skills education to enable positive behavior change. Low-income adults, parents and caregivers, and families during 2017 and 2019. Cooking Matters for Adults, Cooking Matters for Parents, and Cooking Matters for Families curricula were applied to teach participants how to shop for and prepare healthy meals on a limited budget. Cooking Matters participants completed pre and post course surveys. Food security was assessed with 1 item to capture “How often do you worry your food might run out before you get money to buy more?” Never or rarely (food secure) versus sometimes, often, or always (food insecure) responses were collapsed. Chi-square tests were applied to test the relationship between food security or food insecurity and demographics, dietary choices, cooking behaviors, and food resource management from pre to post (P < 0.05). In total, 20,018 Cooking Matters participants responded to the food security question during 2017 (n = 9,893) and 2019 (n = 10,125). Worry about running out of food significantly decreased from 56.5% to 53.5% (P < 0.001), with 2,622 (13.1%) of all participants decreasing worry. Participants who identified as male, Hispanic or Latino, non-Caucasian, aged 18-39, those with lower education levels, and larger household sizes were significantly more likely to decrease worry about running out of food than other demographic groups (P < 0.01). Participants that decreased worry were significantly more likely to increase healthy dietary choices, positive cooking behaviors, and practice food resource management skills than decrease these variables (P < 0.01). More research is needed to understand the relationship between changes in food security and food skills education.