@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2383-2150    Journal of Education and Community Health 2015;2(1):58-69

Background
Poor diet including foods with high saturated fats, salt and sugar, low consumption of fruits and vegetables and eating fast foods lead to nutritional problems disrupting the growth of adolescents and children [1-2].
Previous Studies
... [3-44]. High cooking skills in parents reduce the consumption of trade foods in children [45]. Therefore, nutritionists and health experts have considered the interventions of increasing cooking skills in families as a way to improve the health of children and adolescents [46-47].
Aim(s)
The research aimed to examine the studies which have used interventions and educational programs to teach the cooking skills to parents for determining whether the use of specific frameworks, models and theories of behavior change in parental education can be more effective in improving the nutritional status of children.
Research type
This study is a systematic review.
Research society, place and time
Related studies were done through electronic research of Scopous, Springer, Science Direct, Proquest and Pubmed databases using the following key words between June and September, 2014. Intervention OR demonstration AND health promotion AND education OR class and food preparation OR home food preparation OR food skill OR cooking, cookery OR culinary OR cooking skill and diet AND dietary intake OR skills AND parent OR mother OR family AND children OR child OR adolescence OR youth OR adolescent AND theory OR model.
Sampling method and number
SID, IranMedex and Google Scholar databases were examined to search Persian articles using the keywords of educational intervention, teaching skills or increasing the cooking skills, catering, parents, mothers, family, children, adolescents and theory or model. The criteria for entering the study included: 1) the study to be quantitative, 2) the research to be original, 3) the study to be interventional, 4) educational interventions must include increasing the knowledge and cooking skills, 5) the target group must be parents, 6) the impact of intervention on children and adolescents should be measured, 7) the articles to be published between January 2005 and September 2014. The exclusion criteria were descriptive or intervention studies such as educating mothers with infant babies and training parents with children suffering from specific diseases. Besides, studies that had used other interventions such as increasing the physical activity were also excluded.Finally, seven remaining articles in harmony with the criteria for entering the study were evaluated.
Used devices&materials
In the final form, according to predetermined criteria, the names of the authors, the purpose of the study, the type of the study, the target group, the duration of the study, theory or modelbeing used, the examined variables, the description of the intervention and the results of intervention were presented in the form of a table. Articles found were divided into two major groups: a) studies in which the behavior-change theories and models were the basis of intervention (39, 48-50), b) studies in which educational interventions were performed without the use of theories and models of behavior change (13, 51-52). In these interventions, the study focused on the design of intervention, intervention strategies and the use of behavior-change theories.
Findings by Text
The results of the study by Fulkerson et al. indicate the difficulty of affecting the weight of children by running short-term educational programs. Longer and stronger interventions seem to be necessary foraffecting the children's weight [48]. Curtis et al. conducted a study aimed at increasing the consumption of low-fat starchy foods and reducing the fat intake among families in Food and Family Health Project (FFHP). The results of this study revealed that children of Group C familyhad consumed less fat (P=0.022) and carbohydrates (P=0.001), and more starch (P=0.041) and vitamin C (P=0.002) compared to group A [39]. Rose et al. carried out a study aimed to test the feasibility and acceptability of nutrition/ cooking educational programs for training positive eating behaviors to parents and preschool children. The intervention was in the form of interactive practicalnutrition training and cooking program for eleven familieswith preschool children for 10 months. According to the results of this study, fruits and vegetables’intake increased (P<0.05) and the consumption of soft drinks decreased (P<0.05). No significant changes were observed in Body Mass Index of children. At the end of intervention, parents` self-efficacy on healthier food choices for their children increased (P<0.05) [49]. De Bock et al. did a research to investigate the effect of nutritional intervention with parents on the behavioral consequences such as consuming fruit, vegetables and water,and anthropometric indices in preschool children using 384 parents (180 for control and 194 for intervention) in Germany. The results of this study showed that the mean fruit and vegetable consumption in children increased 0.17 and0.22, respectively, which was statistically significant (P<0.05). However, no significant changeswere achieved in water and sweet cokes consumption. Body Mass Index of children did not have any significant changes for intervention and control groups [50]. Condraski et al. carried out a studynamed "Cooking with the Chef" in 2006 in southern California. Pre and post assess of the intervention was both qualitative and quantitative. Results indicated that the participants' awareness of how to prepare healthy and simple meals as well as the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the intervention group`s children increased significantly (P=0.096). The participants also stated that they have done conscious efforts to eat more fruits and vegetables and prepare healthy snacks for their children [51]. Garcia et al.performed a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a cooking program in increasing parents' confidence regardingthe skills and patterns of food consumption in children. The result of this study demonstrated that the participants' awarenesssuch asknowing the food ingredients (40.9%), the required amounts of food groups in the preparation of food (6.8%) and food preparation according to the budget (36.4%) Increased.Besides, themean confidence in its four aspects (cooking using healthy ingredients, food preparation using a simple recipe, trying new foods, cooking new foods) increased significantly compared to before the intervention ( P<0.001). After one year of follow-up, only the aspect of confidence about food preparation using simple instructions remained stable.Children’s use of fast foods had reduced from 2 to 4 times a week to once a week (P<0.001) as vegetables intake had increased from 5 to 6 times a week to once a day (P<0.001) and finally fruit consumption had raised from 5 to 6 times a week to once a day (P<0.001) and these changes continuedfor one year [13]. Ho et al. did a study aimed to assess the effect of nutrition education on improving the nutritional habits of pre-school children in China. The result of this study revealed that the consumption of unhealthy snacks and watching TV while eating have significantly decreased in the children of intervention group (P<0.05) while eating western high-energy foods, the preference of salty foods, eating chocolate before meals and children's BMI did not change significantly between the intervention and control groups and the nutritionalawareness of the intervention group’s parents had increased (P<0.001). The attitude regarding children's diet management had increased in some respects and the consumption of milk and meat had improved significantly among children [52]. Out of these seven articles, two had been accomplished in the form of pre-test and post-test (13, 49) while four studies were trials [48, 50-52] andone was with three intervention groups [39]. Raising the awareness of parents has been considered in a theory-based study (49) and three studies without the use of theories and models of health education (13, 51-52) in all of which the intervention led to raisingparents` awareness, but the increase of awareness score after the intervention was more in the study based on the theories and models of behavior change. None of the studies reviewed succeeded in making favorable changes in children and adolescents’ body mass index indicating the necessity of doing long-term clinical trials using different strategies. However, makingthe desired changes in the diet of children and adolescents in the long runwill lead to favorable changes in their body mass index [53].
Main comparison to the similar studies
Non-declared
Suggestions
Proving the results of this study needs more detailed studies and meta-analyzes.
Limitations
Limited access, not receiving the full text of the studies from some databases such as “Cochrane” website, the absence of related Persian articles and publishing one single article in different databases (publication bias) are among the limitations of this study.
Conclusions
A combination of educational programs as well as the use of theories and models of behavior change is the best way to achieve the expected results.
Acknowledgments
Non-declared
Conflict of interest
Non-declared
Ethical Permissions
Non-declared
Funding Sources
Non-declared