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Participation in a Summer Culinary Skill‐Building Camp Increased Adolescents' Knowledge, Motivation and Confidence to Cook, and Consumption of Healthy Foods

Foods prepared at home tend to be lower in salt, added sugars and saturated fats compared to foods consumed away from home. Increasing adolescents' motivation to cook may enhance diet quality and home preparation of meals. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the impact of participating in a four‐day summer cooking camp on adolescents' knowledge of nutrition and food safety, motivation and confidence to cook, and reported consumption of healthy foods. The curriculum included one four‐hour lesson each day that taught culinary skills, nutrition education, and food safety based on the “MyPlate” food guidance system and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Parents consented for their children to participate and the adolescents gave personal assent. Change in knowledge was estimated from questions based upon the curriculum that were developed and approved by nutrition educators who frequently worked with this population. Attitude toward cooking was estimated from the “Adolescent Motivation to Cook Questionnaire.” Food consumption behaviors were estimated from the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) Survey developed by the program Youth Evaluation Committee. The middle school youth completed the 6th–8th grade version, and the high school adolescents completed the 9th–12th grade version of these surveys. As questions 1–4 were the same in both surveys, the responses from all participants for these four questions were summed and considered to represent food consumption behaviors. Confidence to cook was estimated from two questions on the 6th–8th grade survey that inquired about confidence to use measuring cups and spoons and to follow directions in a recipe. Wilcoxon signed ranks tests evaluated data that were not normally distributed while t‐tests examined normally distributed data. All of the participants (n=13) self‐identified as African American (100%). The majority were female (69%). Seventh (46%), eighth (38%), ninth (8%) and tenth grade students were represented. Knowledge increased from baseline (Mdn=6.00) to completion (Mdn=10.00), T=0.00, p<0.01, r=0.63. Intrinsic motivation to cook increased from baseline (M=15.62, SE=1.12) to completion (M=19.92, SE=0.84), t(12)=−3.76, p<0.01, r=0.54. Autonomy support increased from baseline (M=22, SE=0.77) to completion (M=24.62, SE=0.68), t(12)=−2.57, p<0.05, r=0.34. Food consumption behaviors improved from baseline (Mdn=2.00) to completion (Mdn=5.00), T=12.50, p<0.05, r=0.46 and cooking confidence increased from baseline (Mdn=7.00) to completion (Mdn=8.00), T= 0.00, p<0.05, r=0.45. These results suggest that a four‐day nutrition education and culinary skill‐building summer cooking camp is an effective way to increase adolescents' knowledge and motivation to prepare healthy foods and improve nutrition‐related behaviors.