Examining Needs and Preferences for a Cooking Skills Education Program among Adolescents from Low-income Families

<h3>Category/Date</h3> Clinical Research Podium Presentations: <b>Current Topics in Pediatric Research.</b> Presented at NAPNAP's 45^th National Conference on Pediatric Health Care, March 14, 2024. <h3>Background</h3> Food and cooking skills are essential to putting dietary recommendations into practice, but modern teenagers have limited access to food and cooking education. Teens are a critical target for cooking and food skill development. The Texas Children's Mobile Clinic Program (TC-MCP) partnered with nutrition researchers to conduct a needs-based assessment of high school adolescents in a public charter school serving low-income students to understand needs and preferences for a healthy cooking and food skills intervention. <h3>Methods</h3> The study was conducted in southeast Houston, Texas. The research team developed a questionnaire from previously validated instruments examining student demographics, food insecurity, dietary intake, cooking self-efficacy, and preferences for intervention programming. The survey was distributed to all 11th and 12th graders via email or on paper. <h3>Results</h3> The survey was sent to 202 students, and 82 (41%) completed the survey. The majority of respondents were female (68.3%), just over 16 years old, and either Black/African American or Hispanic white (80.5%). The majority of students (70.7%) reported eating less than 1 cup of vegetables per day, and most (62.2%) reported eating fast food more than 2 times per week. Just over half (59.8%) reported eating more than 1 cup of fruit per day. Based on a 5-point Likert scale, respondents reported higher self-efficacy regarding their ability to cut up or prepare ingredients (mean=3.76) and shop or help shop for groceries (3.70), and lower self-efficacy regarding ability to cook without a recipe (3.11) and to make a meal for their family (3.13). <h3>Conclusions</h3> Students in low-income families face many health inequities. This project highlights the gaps in their food and cooking education. Mobile clinic collaboration with under-resourced schools may be key to addressing these types of issues among youth. However, more research is needed to understand how to optimize programs like this.