Assessing nutrition literacy and nutrition counseling proficiency following an interdisciplinary culinary medicine elective

Abstract

Context: Culinary medicine (CM) is a growing field of education that aims to bridge the gap between the clinical need for nutritional counseling and the lack of education on the topic. Healthcare professionals can aid in nutrition-related noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention by improving a patient's dietary behavior. However, the presence of nutrition education in healthcare curricula is lacking. Early evidence indicates that CM could address this gap.

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to determine if the provision of an interdisciplinary CM elective will improve student knowledge and confidence with counseling on nutrition and culinary principles, and to improve personal dietary habits of students.

Methods: This was a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. First- and second-year osteopathic medical students (OMS) and nurse practitioner students were recruited to participate in a CM elective via email. Participants were excluded if they were not in good academic standing at their respective institutions. Twelve individuals (n=8 medical; n=4 nursing) were enrolled in the course. Participants completed pre- and postcourse surveys to determine changes in nutrition literacy (Nutrition Literacy Assessment Instrument [NLit42]), nutrition counseling proficiency (Nutrition Survey for Family Practitioners), and dietary quality (Automated Self-Administered 24-h dietary assessment tool; ASA24^®). A two-sided, paired t test was conducted to determine changes in outcome variables.

Results: All 12 participants completed the precourse assessments, and 8 participants completed the postcourse assessments. Culinary activity attendance was 94.5 %. Participants exhibited a statistically significant increase in their overall nutrition literacy scores after completing the CM elective (p=0.006). Literacy subcategories indicated that the improvement came from the participant's ability to understand household measurements (p=0.005) better. Increases in self-reported proficiency were observed for participants' confidence to counsel on nutrition and prevention/wellness (p=0.02) and macronutrients in health and food safety (p=0.01). No statistically significant changes in the personal dietary pattern or quality were observed.

Conclusions: The interdisciplinary CM elective improved nutrition literacy and some aspects of counseling proficiency. Although small shifts in dietary variables were observed, the elective did not statistically improve participants' dietary pattern. However, some changes that were observed may lead to clinically relevant outcomes if maintained long-term. These findings are encouraging. Implementing CM as an educational tool could improve healthcare practitioners' ability to understand and counsel patients on nutrition to prevent the nutrition-related NCDs.

Keywords: culinary medicine; medical education; nutrition counseling.