Healthy meals, healthy families : a pilot intervention to improve nutrition knowledge and self-efficacy to prepare healthy meals among low-income individuals in Delaware County, Indiana

Abstract

Food is a fundamental necessity of life. However, millions of Americans do not have access to adequate food and are considered to be "food insecure." Research has shown that low-income individuals have limited food preparation skills and low levels of self-efficacy to prepare healthy meals, further complicating their food situations. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the effectiveness of a community cooking demonstration at increasing self-efficacy to prepare healthy meals with limited resources. Twenty-three low-income adults participated in the intervention and completed a pre- and post-test assessment to measure changes in self-efficacy to cook, as well as changes in general food and nutrition knowledge. Results indicated that although there were no significant improvements in participants’ self-efficacy to prepare healthy meals (39.3 ± 11.3 vs. 44.5 ± 9.1; t=1.76, p=0.25), subjects did experience significant gains in knowledge related to the MyPlate food guide (1.2 ± 0.5 vs. 1.8 ± 0.8; t=2.82, p=0.01) and basic food safety (0.7 ± 0.9 vs. 2.5 ± 1.0: t=6.05, p<0.001). Increased knowledge is a critical building block toward behavior change and increased self-efficacy.