Assessing Perceived Helpfulness of Take-home Nutrition Activities in the Books & Cooks Literacy and Nutrition Education Program

Background

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Books & Cooks (B&C) program is a six-week nutrition, literacy, and parenting education program designed to improve family nutrition status, including children’s engagement in the kitchen, and the home literacy environment. This family program includes in-class lessons and take-home workbook activities for children and caregivers to complete together that reinforce class objectives, as previous studies have demonstrated that reinforcement activities promote lasting change. Whether the workbook helped families engage their children in the kitchen required investigation.

Objective

To assess perceived helpfulness of the take-home workbook nutrition-related activities in helping families engage their children in meal preparation.

Study Design, Settings, Participants

Families (n=146) with at least one child in kindergarten through fifth grade across six Florida counties participated. Each week, families completed take-home nutrition activities focusing on food safety, MyPlate, fruits/vegetables, protein/dairy, whole grains, and hydration. Activities included hands-on food preparation, replacing unhealthy food items, and tracking foods consumed.

Measurable Outcome/Analysis

One caregiver from each family completed a demographic eligibility screener and weekly surveys to assess family participation in take-home activities and child engagement in meal preparation.

Results

Most participants were White (53%), non-Hispanic (64%), and female (95%). Completion rates of weekly surveys ranged from 66% (Week 3) to 14% (Week 6). Participants reported that Week 3 fruits/vegetables) and Week 6 (hydration) activities “helped a great deal” regarding increasing their child’s engagement in meal preparation (70% and 74%, respectively). Participants (48%) reported that Week 5 (whole grains) activity was the least helpful.

Conclusions

The results suggest that tracking activities, such as Week 3 (fruits/vegetables) and Week 6 (hydration) helped families engage their children in the kitchen the most. Alternatively, replacement tasks, such as Week 5 (whole Grains) had the lowest helpfulness. These findings suggest that expanding tracking challenges while refining replacement tasks could be most helpful to families, ultimately promoting children’s engagement in meal preparation which previous studies have demonstrated is associated with improved nutrition status.

Funding

University of Florida Lastinger Center