Positive impact of a nutrition education program for low-income adults on food resource management skills and self-efficacy

Purpose.Cooking Matters for Adults is a 6-week long nutrition education course for low-income adults and families. The program sought to quantify the extent to which participants demonstrated improved skills and self-efficacy related to food resource management after completing the program.

Methods. The study employed a quasi-experimental intervention-comparison group design with data collection at baseline, immediate post-course completion, and 3 months post-completion. Paired t tests examined changes from baseline to immediate post for Cooking Matters participants; difference-in-difference analysis was conducted using intervention and comparison group responses at baseline and 3 months post to identify changes associated with participation in the program.

Results. From baseline to immediate post course completion, Cooking Matters participants saw a significant improvement in 5 behaviors related to food resource management (n=509; p<0.0001) and 3 measures of self-efficacy related to managing food resources (n=539; p<0.0001). At 3 months post controlling for changes in comparison group means, participants continued to demonstrate improved behaviors, increasing from 3.1 to 3.8 on a 5-point scale (n=752). Self-efficacy also improved on the 3 measures of self-efficacy (each on a 5-point scale): buying healthy foods on a budget (0.63; p<0.0001), making food money last all month (0.51; p<0.001), and making low-cost meals (0.61; p<0.0001).

Conclusions. Cooking Matters is being used as part of the SNAP-Ed curriculum in many states across the country. Targeted educational efforts combined with cooking demonstrations may help low-income adults increase their ability to purchase healthy foods on a budget, which may result in both increased food security and healthy eating behaviors.