Abstract
Objective
Examine the impact of Fuel for Fun: Cooking with Kids Plus Parents and Play (FFF) on children's culinary self-efficacy, attitude, fruit and vegetable (FV) preferences,
physical activity (PA), and body mass index.
Design
Randomized controlled trial.
Setting
Eight elementary schools in 2 Northern Colorado districts.
Participants
Fourth-grade students; 7-month interventions: school (S.FFF)—theory-based cooking + tasting
lessons, active recess, lesson-driven cafeteria promotions; or school + family (S+F.FFF)
with added family nights and home activities.
Main Outcome Measure(s)
Cooking self-efficacy and attitudes, FV preferences, PA, and measured height/weight.
Analysis
Individual outcomes nested by classroom, school, and district and assessed > 12 months
with repeated measures controlled by sex and baseline cooking experience, with a significance
level of P < 0.05.
Results
The sample included 1,428 youth, 38 teachers, 4 cohorts, 50% boys, 75% White, and
15% Hispanic. No intervention effect was observed. Those who cooked retained higher
self-efficacy, attitude, and FV preferences (P < 0.001). Girls reported higher self-efficacy and attitude than boys. Moderate-to-vigorous
PA and metabolic equivalent minutes increased for all students; boys retained higher
levels (P < 0.001). Body mass index percentile remained stable.
Conclusions and Implications
Cooking and sex were associated with all outcome measures and should be considered
for intervention tailoring. Treatment impacts were not evident nesting by classroom,
school, and district. Accurate assessment of school-based interventions requires rejecting
student independence from group assignment assumptions.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 25, 2023
Accepted:
October 24,
2022
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
