A Research Protocol of Hands-On Healthy Meal Preparation Intervention (Kidchen Study) to Improve Children’s Nutritional Outcomes

Satvinder Kaur, Ng Choon Ming, Koo Hui Chin, Roseline Yap Wai Kuan, Yim Hip Seng, Firdaus Mukhtar

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to describe the protocol of a 12-week hands-on healthy meal preparation intervention among children, up to a 3-month follow-up. The aim of KidChen Study (kids in kitchen) is to improve children’s nutritional outcomes. In this randomized-controlled trial, simple random sampling will be used to select schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Subsequently, the selected schools (n=2) will be assigned randomly to either the intervention or control group. The current study will include healthy Malaysian children aged 10–11 years old with no serious disease or food allergy. The intervention is based on Social Cognitive Theory that addresses personal and environmental factors for changing children’s behaviour. Children from the intervention group will receive a 60-minute home food environment module with their parents consisting of nutrition talk, healthy food tasting, parent-child quiz; and five 60 minute interactive hands-on healthy meal preparation modules focusing on core food groups coupled with
storytelling sessions to incorporate nutrition education. Outcome measures are children’s psychosocial factors towards healthy meal preparation (knowledge, attitude, practice, self-efficacy), dietary behaviour, food consumption pattern, home food availability and anthropometric measures (BMI-for-age z-score, body fat percentage, waist circumference). Repeated measures ANOVA will be used to evaluate the intervention outcomes. KidChen Study is an experiential learning approach to instil a positive attitude towards nutrition and empower children with nutrition skills. We anticipate that the intervention will advocate healthy eating behaviour among children, impacting their nutritional outcomes over time.

References

Ainuki T, Akamatsu R, Hayashi F, Takemi Y. 2013. Association of enjoyable childhood mealtimes with adult eating behaviors and subjective diet-related quality of life. J Nutr Educ Behav 45(3):274–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2012.11.001.
Bai Y, Feldman C, Wunderlich SM, Aletras SC. 2011. Process evaluation of the fresh fruit and vegetable program implementation in a New Jersey elementary school. J of Child Nut & Management 35(2):11.
Bandura A. 1999. Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Asian J Soc Psychol 2(1):21–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-839X.00024.
Banfield EC, Liu Y, Davis JS, Chang S, Frazier-Wood AC. 2016. Poor adherence to US dietary guidelines for children and adolescents in the national health and nutrition examination survey population. J Acad Nutr Diet 116(1):21–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2015.08.010.
Barrera MJ, Castro FG, Strycker LA, Toobert DJ. 2013. Cultural adaptations of behavioral health interventions: A progress report. J Consult Clin Psychol 81(2):196–205. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027085.
Battjes-Fries MCE, Haveman-Nies A, Van Dongen EJI, Meester HJ, Top-Pullen RVD, De Graaf K,Van't Veer P. 2016. Effectiveness of taste lessons with and without additional experiential learning activities on children’s psychosocial determinants of vegetables consumption. Appetite 105:519–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.06.016.
Black AP, D’Onise K, McDermott R, Vally H, O’Dea K. 2017. How effective are family-based and institutional nutrition interventions in improving children’s diet and health? A systematic review. BMC Public Health 17(1):1–19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4795-5.
Black K, Thomson C, Chryssidis T, Finigan R, Hann C, Jackson R, Robinson C, Toldi O, Skidmore P. 2018. Pilot testing of an intensive cooking course for New Zealand adolescents: The create-our-own kai study. Nutrients 10(5):556. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10050556.
Bunce DM, Flens EA, Neiles KY. 2010. How long can students pay attention in class? A study of student attention decline using clickers. J Chem Educ 87(12):1438–1443. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed100409p.
Caraher M, Seeley A, Wu M, Lloyd S. 2013. When chefs adopt a school? An evaluation of a cooking intervention in English primary schools. Appetite 62:50–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.11.007.
Chan YH. 2003. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs)-sample size: The magic number? Singapore Med J 44(4):172–174.
Chen Q, Goto K, Wolff C, Bianco-Simeral S, Gruneisen K, Gray K. 2014. Cooking up diversity. Impact of a multicomponent, multicultural, experiential intervention on food and cooking behaviors among elementary-school students from low-income ethnically diverse families. Appetite 80:114–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.05.009.
Couch S, Glanz K, Zhou C, Sallis JF, Saelens BE. 2014. Home food environment in relation to children’s diet quality and weight status. J Acad Nutr Diet 114(10):1569–1579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.05.015.
Coyle KK, Potter S, Schneider D, May G. Robin LE, Seymour J, Debrot K. 2009. Distributing free fresh fruit and vegetables at school: Results of a pilot outcome evaluation. Public Health Rep 124(5): 660–669. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335490912400508.
Cunningham-Sabo L, Lohse B. 2013. Cooking with kids positively affectsfourth graders’ vegetable preferences and attitudes and self-efficacy for food and cooking. Childhood Obesity 9(6):549–556. https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2013.0076.
DeCosta P, Møller P, Frøst MB, Olsen A. 2017. Changing children’s eating behaviour - a review of experimental research. Appetite 113:327–357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.03.004.
Dudley DA, Cotton WG, Peralta LR. 2015. Teaching approaches and strategies that promote healthy eating in primary school children: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Behav Nutr Phy 12(1):28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-015-0182-8.
Efstratia D. 2014. Experiential Education through Project Based Learning. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 152:1256–1260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.09.362.
Evans CEL, Christian MS, Cleghorn CL, Greenwood DC, Cade, JE. 2012. Systematic review and meta-analysis of school-based interventions to improve daily fruit and vegetable intake in children aged 5 to 12 y. Am J Clin Nutr 96(4):889–901. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.030270.
Faught EL, Montemurro G, Storey KE, Veugelers PJ. 2017. Adherence to dietary recommendations supports Canadian children’s academic achievement. Can J diet Pract Res 78(3):102–108. https://doi.org/10.3148/cjdpr-2017-008.
Febriani D, Sudarti T. 2019. Fast food as drivers for overweight and obesity among urban school children at Jakarta, Indonesia. J Gizi Pangan 14(2):99–106. https://doi.org/10.25182/jgp.2019.14.2.99-106.
Fulkerson JA, Rydell S, Kubik MY, Lytle L, Boutelle K, Story M, Neumark-Sztainer D, Dudovitz B, Garwick A. 2011. Healthy home offerings via the mealtime environment (HOME): Feasibility, acceptability, and outcomes of a pilot study. Obesity 18(S1): S69–S74. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2009.434.
Gibson RS. 2005. Principles of Nutritional Assessment. 2nd ed. New York (USA): Oxford University Press.
Glanz K, Steffen A. 2008. Development and reliability testing for measures of psychosocial constructs associated with adolescent girls’ calcium intake. J Am Diet Assoc 108(5):857–861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2008.02.014.
Hersch D, Perdue L, Ambroz T, Boucher JL. 2014. The impact of cooking classes on food-related preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of school-aged children: A systematic review of the evidence, 2003–2014. Prev Chronic Dis 11:140267. doi: 10.5888/pcd11.140267.
Hoque KE, Kamaluddin MA, Abdul Razak AZA, Wahid AAA. 2016. Building healthy eating habits in childhood: A study of the attitudes, knowledge and dietary habits of school children in Malaysia. PeerJ 4: e2651.
[IPH] Institute for Public Health. 2014. National Health and Morbidity Survey 2014: Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS). Volume 1 Methodology and General Findings. Kuala Lumpur (MA): Ministry of Health Malaysia
Jarpe-Ratner E, Folkens S, Sharma S, Daro D, Edens NK. 2016. An experiential cooking and nutrition education program increases cooking self-efficacy and vegetable consumption in children in grades 3–8. J Nutr Educ Behav 48(10):697–705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2016.07.021.
Kolb DA, Boyatzis RE, Mainemelis C. 2001. Experiential Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions. In: R Sternberg and L Zhang, eds. Perspectives on Thinking, Learning, and Cognitive Styles. The Educational Psychology Series. New Jersey (USA): Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Koo HC, Poh BK, Abd Talib R. 2018. The great-child™ trial: A quasi-experimental intervention on whole grains with healthy balanced diet to manage childhood obesity in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Nutrients. 10(2):156. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10020156.
Levy J, Auld G. 2004. Cooking classes outperform cooking demonstrations for college sophomores. J Nutr Educ Behav 36:197–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1499-4046(06)60234-0.
Marsh T, Cullen KW, Baranowski T. 2003. Validation of a fruit, juice, and vegetable availability questionnaire. J Nutr Educ Behav 35(2):93–97. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1499-4046(06)60045-6.
Ministry of Health Malaysia. 2013. Malaysian Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents. National Coordinating Committee on Food and Nutrition. https://books.google.com.my/books/about/Malaysian_Dietary_Guidelines_for_Childre.html?id=KO8NrgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y [Accessed 13rd May 2017].
Ng CM, Koo HC, Firdaus M, Yap RWK, Chong PN, Kaur S. 2020a. Development, validity and reliability of questionnaire to measure children’s psychosocial factors towards healthy meal preparation. Journal Public Health 28(2):155–161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-019-01060-w.
Ng CM, Satvinder K, Koo HC, Yap RWK, Mukhtar F. 2020b. Children’s psychosocial factors of healthy meal preparation as predictors for nutritional status measures. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research May 28:1–9. doi: 10.1024/0300-9831/a000655.
Poh BK, Jannah AN, Chong LK, Ruzita AT, Ismail MN, McCarthy D. 2011. Waist circumference percentile curves for Malaysian children and adolescents aged 6.0–16.9 years. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity 6(3–4):229–235.
Rankin J, Matthews L, Cobley S, Han A, Sanders R, Wiltshire HD, Baker JS. 2016. Psychological consequences of childhood obesity: Psychiatric comorbidity and prevention. Adolescent Health Med Ther 7: 125–146. doi: 10.2147/AHMT.S101631.
Ritchie LD, Welk G, Styne D, Gerstein DE, Crawford PB. 2005. Family environment and pediatric overweight: What is a parent to do? J Am Diet Assoc 105(5):70–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.02.017.
Seel NM. 2012. Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. New York (USA): Springer Science & Business Media.
Seipel B, Carlson SE, Bianco-simeral S, Frigaard M, Wolff C, Goto K. 2014. The nutritional moral of the story: An examination of storybooks used to promote healthy food-choice behavior. Psychology and Education: An Interdisciplinary Journal 51(3–4):30–41.
Suzuki WA, Feliú-Mójer MI, Hasson U, Yehuda R, Zarate JM. 2018. Dialogues: The science and power of storytelling. J Neurosci 38(44):9468–9470. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1942-18.2018.
Swinburn BA, Sacks G, Hall KD, McPherson K, Finegood DT, Moodie ML, Gortmaker SL. 2011. The global obesity pandemic: Shaped by global drivers and local environments. The Lancet 378(9793):804–814. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60813-1.
The Academy of Medical Sciences. 2017 Addressing the Global Health Challenge of Obesity in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur (MA): The Academy of Medical Sciences.
Uijtdewilligen L, Waters CN, Müller-Riemenschneider F, Lim YW. 2016. Preventing childhood obesity in Asia: An overview of intervention programmes. Obesity Reviews 17(11):1103–1115. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12435.
Van der Horst K, Ferrage A, Rytz A. 2014. Involving children in meal preparation. Effects on food intake. Appetite 79:18–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.03.030.
Wilson AM, Magarey AM, Mastersson N. 2008. Reliability and relative validity of a child nutrition questionnaire to simultaneously assess dietary patterns associated with positive energy balance and food behaviours, attitudes, knowledge and environments associated with healthy eating. Int J Behav Nutr Phy Act 5(5):51–55. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-5-5.
[WHO] World Health Organization. 2018. Obesity and overweight. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight [Accessed 9th May 2019].

Authors

Satvinder Kaur
satvinderk@gmail.com (Primary Contact)
Ng Choon Ming
Koo Hui Chin
Roseline Yap Wai Kuan
Yim Hip Seng
Firdaus Mukhtar
KaurS., MingN. C., ChinK. H., KuanR. Y. W., SengY. H., & MukhtarF. (2020). A Research Protocol of Hands-On Healthy Meal Preparation Intervention (Kidchen Study) to Improve Children’s Nutritional Outcomes. Jurnal Gizi Dan Pangan, 15(3), 139-148. https://doi.org/10.25182/jgp.2020.15.3.139-148

Article Details

List of Cited By :

Crossref logo