Abstract
Statement of Problem: Diabetes prevalence is expected to increase by 50% at the end of this decade. Ethnic minority communities experiencing low health literacy, limited financial resources, and food insecurity are at an even higher risk. Culinary medicine, a program focused on nutrition education, culinary skills, and promoting behavior change, has shown improvement with glycemic control among participants with diabetes. The aim of this thesis was to develop an assessment tool for a culinary medicine program at a local federally qualified health center that is easy to administer and complete, appropriate for setting, and useful for program to evaluate impact. The assessment tool was developed specifically for English and Spanish speaking participants.
Methods: A social cognitive theory-based assessment tool was designed for low-income ethnically diverse adults participating in a culinary medicine program at a local federally qualified health center. The thesis was conducted in three phases. The first phase was
identifying the concepts and content of the assessment tool. The second phase consisted of cognitive interviews with English and Spanish speaking participants. Lastly, the third phase was pilot testing the assessment tool with the utilization of a quick response (QR)
code.
Results: Six meetings with program staff were held in the first phase to address program needs. Five Spanish and four English speaking participants from the federally qualified health center participated in the cognitive interviews during the second phase. Interviews
provided an insight of their interpretation of assessment tool clarity, appropriateness, and usefulness. Fifteen Spanish and two English speaking participants participated in the pilot testing of the assessment tool, and sixteen successfully utilized the QR code. The
developed assessment tool addressed four constructs of social cognitive theory which included observational learning, self-efficacy, reinforcement, and behavior capability.
The assessment tool addressed behaviors about culinary skill, food preparation, and likelihood of repeating observed behavior. Eleven participants stated they would prepare the recipe given at home, sixteen participants stated they would return to the culinary class, and fifteen participants stated they learned about food preparation.
Conclusions: This thesis filled a gap for a need for a culinary medicine assessment tool that was practical and suitable for low-income ethnically diverse adults. The theory-based tool can be useful for the program staff to evaluate the culinary medicine program’s impact. Further research should include testing with a larger sample size including English speaking participants. After the new assessment tool has been implemented it should be assessed if it continues to meet program needs and if the QR code is feasible.