Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun 11;32(4):785-792.
doi: 10.1007/s40670-022-01566-1. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Impact of a Brief Culinary Medicine Elective on Medical Students' Nutrition Knowledge, Self-efficacy, and Attitudes

Rachel A Wattick  1 , Emily G Saurborn  1 , Melissa D Olfert  1
Affiliations

Impact of a Brief Culinary Medicine Elective on Medical Students' Nutrition Knowledge, Self-efficacy, and Attitudes

Rachel A Wattick et al. Med Sci Educ. .

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine how a brief culinary medicine curriculum impacted medical students' nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy and to evaluate which parts of the curriculum students found to be most helpful. This preliminary intervention study enrolled participants in a 2-week culinary medicine elective course and measured pre- and post-elective. Students attending an Appalachian medical school (n = 16) participated in this study. Participants were surveyed on their nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy in providing nutrition advice, and attitudes towards use of nutrition in practice pre- and post-elective. Participants also completed elective evaluations following the course. Changes in mean outcome scores were measured pre- and post-elective using signed Wilcoxon tests. Alpha was set at .05. Frequencies of responses were calculated to determine which course components were ranked highest in their efficacy. Nutrition knowledge and self-efficacy increased significantly from pre- to post-elective (p < .0001 and p < .0001, respectively). Students valued the hands-on and culinary components of the course most. Results indicate that a brief culinary medicine curriculum can effectively improve medical students' knowledge and self-efficacy of nutrition counseling and that students prefer hands-on and applied learning when learning about nutrition.

Keywords: Culinary medicine; Culinary nutrition; Experiential learning; Medical students; Nutrition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Mogre V, Stevens FCJ, Aryee PA, Amalba A, Scherpbier A. Why nutrition education is inadequate in the medical curriculum: a qualitative study of students’ perspectives on barriers and strategies. BMC Med Educ. 2018;18(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s12909-018-1130-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adamski M, Gibson S, Leech M, Truby H. Are doctors nutritionists? What is the role of doctors in providing nutrition advice? Nutr Bull. 2018;43(2):147–152. doi: 10.1111/nbu.12320. - DOI
    1. Leslie FC, Thomas S. Competent to care. Are all doctors competent in nutrition? Proc Nutrit Soc. 2009;68(3):296–9. doi: 10.1017/S0029665109001293. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hu J, Raman M, Gramlich L. Current status of and recommendations for nutrition education in gastroenterology fellowship training in Canada. Nutr Clin Pract. 2018;33(2):191–197. - PubMed
    1. AAMC. Curriculum topics in required and elective courses at medical school programs. https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/curriculum-reports/interactive-data/cu.... Accessed 5 May 2022.

LinkOut - more resources