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Master of Public Health

Assessing the Scale and Spread of an Experiential Teaching Kitchen in After-School Programming Among School-Aged Children

AUTHORS

Heerman WJ , Elsakary Y , Sommer EC , Escarfuller J , Barkin SL , . Public health nutrition. 2020 10 23; (). 1-21

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To scale-out an experiential teaching kitchen in parks and recreation centers’ after-school programming in a large urban setting among predominantly low-income and minority children.

DESIGN: We evaluated the implementation of a skills-based, experiential teaching kitchen to gauge program success. Effectiveness outcomes included pre-post measures of child-reported cooking self-efficacy, attitudes towards cooking, fruit and vegetable preference, intention to eat fruits and vegetables, and willingness to try new fruits and vegetables. Process outcomes included attendance (i.e., intervention dose delivered), cost, fidelity, and adaptations to the intervention.

SETTING: After school programming in Parks and Recreation Community Centers in Nashville, TN.

PARTICIPANTS: Predominantly low-income minority children ages 6-14.

RESULTS: Of the 25 city community centers, 21 successfully implemented the program, and 19 of 25 implemented 7 or more of the 8 planned sessions. Among children with pre-post data (n=369), mean age was 8.8 (SD=1.9) years, and 53.7% were female. All five effectiveness measures significantly improved (p<0.001). Attendance at sessions ranged from 36.3% of children not attending any sessions to 36.6% of children attending at least 4 sessions. Across all centers, fidelity was 97.5%. The average food cost per serving was $1.37.

CONCLUSIONS: This type of nutritional education and skills building experiential teaching kitchen can be successfully implemented in a community setting with high fidelity, effectiveness, and organizational alignment, while also expanding reach to low-income, underserved children.

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