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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Mar 18;12(3):796.
doi: 10.3390/nu12030796.

Create Our Own Kai: A Randomised Control Trial of a Cooking Intervention with Group Interview Insights into Adolescent Cooking Behaviours

Sarahmarie Kuroko  1 , Katherine Black  1 , Themis Chryssidis  2 , Rosie Finigan  1 , Callum Hann  2 , Jillian Haszard  1 , Rosalie Jackson  1 , Katherine Mahn  1 , Caleb Robinson  1 , Carla Thomson  1 , Olivia Toldi  1 , Nicholas Scullion  1 , Paula Skidmore  1   3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Create Our Own Kai: A Randomised Control Trial of a Cooking Intervention with Group Interview Insights into Adolescent Cooking Behaviours

Sarahmarie Kuroko et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Cooking is frequently associated with a healthier diet, however few youth cooking intervention studies have used control groups or follow-ups. Additionally, although cooking is associated with better mental well-being among adolescents, this has not been examined experimentally. This randomised controlled trial investigated whether a five-day intensive holiday cooking program, followed by six weeks of weekly meal kits with Facebook support groups, affected the cooking-related outcomes, diet quality and mental well-being among adolescents, with a 12-month follow-up. Adolescents aged 12-15 years (intervention: n = 91, 60% female; control: n = 27, 78% female) completed baseline, post-intervention and 12-month follow-up anthropometric measures, and questionnaire measures of mental well-being, diet quality and cooking attitudes, self-efficacy and behaviours. The intervention group's post-intervention outcomes improved significantly more for mental well-being, diet quality, helping make dinner, cooking self-efficacy and positive cooking attitude, however body mass index (BMI) z-scores also increased. Differences were maintained at 12 months for self-efficacy only. Group interviews showed that participants' cooking behaviours were strongly influenced by family factors. Adolescent cooking interventions may have many short-term benefits, however cooking self-efficacy appears most responsive and stable over time. Effects on BMI need further investigation. Family factors influence whether and what adolescents cook post-intervention.

Keywords: RCT; adolescent; cooking intervention; cooking self-efficacy; mental well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline for streams’ A, B, C and D of the COOK Study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Participant flow during the COOK Study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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