Skill-based Cooking Intervention to Reduce Eating Out

Phase I. Conduct 2-4 focus groups with 6-10 caretaker, who report eating foods prepared away
from home ≥3 times per week, per group to gain insight into current eating behaviors of
foods prepared away from home, current perceptions about a home prepared evening meal, and
barriers to preparing evening meals at home. Information gathered during Phase I will be
used to inform intervention development in Phase II.

Phase II. Develop, refine, and manualize a skill-based cooking intervention for
overweight/obese caretakers of a child aged 3-10 years. The aim of Phase II is to test the
feasibility of a skill-based cooking intervention to reduce the consumption of foods
prepared away from home for the evening meal (e.g., pre-prepared frozen foods, restaurant
foods, fast food, take-out), energy intake from evening meals, and promote a healthy weight
in parents and children. Information collected during Phase I will inform the development of
the skill-based cooking intervention. Once developed, the intervention will be refined with
6 primary caretakers of a child, who meet criteria for being overweight/obese during a
testing phase. Conducting the intervention with at least six families will provide the
opportunity for further refinement of intervention procedures. The results will be important
to demonstrate feasibility for a future pilot randomized controlled trial that will test the
impact of a skill-based cooking intervention compared to a standard cooking demonstration
where recipes are simply provided to families.

Inclusion Criteria (Phase I):

- be ≥18 years of age

- have a child between the ages of 3 and 10 years-old

- report being the primary caretaker and have the primary feeding responsibility of the
child for dinner/supper

- able to read, speak, and understand English

- have transportation to the Medical Center

- report their family including the child eats pre-prepared frozen food, restaurant
food, fast food, or take-out for dinner ≥3 times per week

- has a working telephone number

- is able to attend the scheduled date and time of a focus group.

Inclusion Criteria (Phase II):

- caretaker is ≥18 years of age

- caretaker is overweight or obese (BMI≥25)

- has a child between the ages of 3 and 10 years-old

- report being the primary caretaker and have the primary feeding responsibility of the
child for dinner/supper

- caretaker is able to read, speak, and understand English

- has transportation to the medical center and the instructional kitchen

- does not plan to move out of the area before June 2015

- reports their family including the child eats convenience food, restaurant food, fast
food, or take-out for dinner ≥3 times per week

- reports access to a kitchen

- able to attend the scheduled date and time of the sessions.

Exclusion Criteria (Phase II):

- the caretaker or child is currently participating in a weight loss program and/or
taking weight loss medication

- have a medical condition known to promote growth (e.g., Prader-Willi syndrome,
Cushing's syndrome) or had gastric bypass surgery.