Pilot trial of an adult community cooking skills intervention

ISRCTN ISRCTN91580447
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN91580447
Secondary identifying numbers RES/0150/7794
Submission date
21/07/2015
Registration date
30/07/2015
Last edited
05/12/2019
Recruitment status
No longer recruiting
Overall study status
Completed
Condition category
Nutritional, Metabolic, Endocrine
Prospectively registered
Protocol
Statistical analysis plan
Results
Individual participant data
Record updated in last year

Plain English Summary

Background and study aims
Dietary improvements may help reduce the prevalence of obesity and certain chronic diseases. Improvements in cooking skills could lead to dietary improvements. Evidence suggests there has been a reduction in cooking skills in the UK population over the past 20 years. The past decade has witnessed an increase in interventions to increase cooking skills aimed at addressing this skills gap. However, a link has yet to be demonstrated between cooking skills and diet. This research has three aims: to analyse existing data to explore associations between cooking skills and diet in the UK population; to conduct analysis of an existing cooking skills intervention; and to conduct a pilot study of a cooking skills intervention. The aim of this study is to find out whether cooking skills interventions are likely to be effective and whether robust evaluation of cooking skills interventions is both practical and feasible.

Who can participate?
Adults aged 18 or over with poor cooking skills.

What does the study involve?
Participants will be randomly allocated to one of two groups. The intervention group will attend an adult cooking skills course comprising eight 60-90 minute weekly sessions at community venues (The Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food (JOMoF) adult cooking skills course).The control group will be offered the cooking skills course after the end of the study.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The potential benefits of the intervention are that individuals gain confidence and skills in cooking from raw ingredients; and that this, in turn, leads them to eat a healthier diet. Others in a household may also benefit from healthier food preparation, or transfer of skills. There are no major risks to participating. However, working in a kitchen, even supervised, may result in occasional accidental injuries, which can include cuts from kitchen knives, scalding or burns from cooking equipment or hot foods, and inflammation resulting from contact with certain foods (e.g. chillies) if hands are not thoroughly washed before contact with, for example, eyes. These events are very rare and mitigated by appropriate training and safety protocols within the trial.

Where is the study run from?
Institute of Health & Society, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University (UK).

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
From April 2013 to July 2015.

Who is funding the study?
Policy Research Programme, Department of Health (UK).

Who is the main contact?
Prof Martin White
martin.white@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

Contact information

Prof Martin White
Scientific

Centre for Diet & Activity Research (CEDAR)
MRC Epidemiology Unit
School of Clinical Medicine
University of Cambridge
Cambridge
CB2 0QQ
United Kingdom

ORCiD logoORCID ID 0000-0002-1861-6757
Phone +44 (0)12237 69159
Email martin.white@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

Study information

Study designSingle-centre multi-site community-based pilot randomized controlled trial with process and economic evaluations
Primary study designInterventional
Secondary study designRandomised controlled trial
Study setting(s)Community
Study typePrevention
Participant information sheet Not available in web format, please use the contact details below to request a patient information sheet
Scientific titleResearch to support the evaluation and implementation of adult cooking skills interventions in the UK: pilot randomized controlled trial with process and economic evaluation components
Study hypothesisThis pilot randomized controlled trial aimed to establish the feasibility of conducting a definitive randomized controlled trial of an adult cooking skills intervention.
Ethics approval(s)Newcastle University Research Ethics Committee, 22/08/2013, ref: 00659/2013
ConditionPrevention of chronic non-communicable diseases associated with unhealthy diet
Intervention1. Intervention arm - an adult cooking skills course delivered to groups of 6-10 participants, comprising eight 60-90 minute weekly sessions at community venues (The Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food (JOMoF) adult cooking skills course).
2. Control arm - no intervention during the 12-week follow-up period. Control arm participants were offered the cooking skills course after final data collection.
Intervention typeBehavioural
Primary outcome measureAs this was a pilot randomized controlled trial, there was no primary outcome. However, a number of measures were collected to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and trial procedures. These data were specified by our research questions as follows:

1. What is the theoretical basis, in terms of behaviour change, of the JOMoF cooking skills intervention?
2. What is the fidelity of the JOMoF cooking skills intervention?
3. Are there temporal or locational variations in intervention fidelity?
4. What are the baseline self-reported cooking skills and socio-demographic characteristics of participants of a cooking skills intervention?
5. How do the baseline self-reported cooking skills and socio-demographic characteristics of wait-list recruits compare to community recruits?
6. Do the socio-demographic characteristics of wait-list recruits align with those identified as most in need of cooking skills interventions from research questions 1-4?
7. What are the consequences, both expected and unexpected, of cooking skills interventions for UK adults, as identified by cooking skills intervention participants and providers?
8. How practical and acceptable are cooking skills interventions for UK adult participants as well as those involved in commissioning and delivery?
9. How practical and acceptable are the research methods proposed for a definitive RCT of a multi-site cooking skills intervention, for both UK adult participants as well as those involved in commissioning and delivery?
10. What factors affect non-recruitment, attrition, attendance and compliance with data collection methods?
11. Is economic evaluation of a cooking skills intervention feasible?
Secondary outcome measuresSee above under primary outcomes. As this was a pilot randomized controlled trial there were no primary or secondary outcomes.
Overall study start date29/04/2013
Overall study end date24/07/2015

Eligibility

Participant type(s)Healthy volunteer
Age groupAdult
Lower age limit18 Years
SexBoth
Target number of participants96
Total final enrolment80
Participant inclusion criteria1. Adults aged 18 years or over
2. Living in the community
3. Self-perceived poor cooking skills
4. Able to speak fluent English
Participant exclusion criteria1. Aged under 18 years
2. Unable to speak English fluently
Recruitment start date13/10/2013
Recruitment end date07/07/2014

Locations

Countries of recruitment

  • England
  • United Kingdom

Study participating centre

Institute of Health & Society, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University
Baddiley-Clark Building, Richardson Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4AX
United Kingdom

Sponsor information

Newcastle University (UK)
University/education

Faculty of Medical Sciences
Framlington Place
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4HH
England
United Kingdom

Website http://www.ncl.ac.uk/res/about/office/research/joint.htm
ROR logo "ROR" https://ror.org/01kj2bm70

Funders

Funder type

Government

Policy Research Programme, Department of Health (UK)

No information available

Results and Publications

Intention to publish date30/06/2020
Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to shareYes
IPD sharing plan summaryAvailable on request
Publication and dissemination planThe results will be published in a full report to the funder (UK Department of Health, Policy Research Programme) and in peer-reviewed journal publications. a lay summary of the findings will be made available to stakeholders.

2016 results in https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/256139 (added 05/12/2019)
IPD sharing plan

Editorial Notes

05/12/2019: The following changes have been made:
1. A final report link has been added to the publication and dissemination plan..
2. The final enrolment number has been added from the reference.
3. The intention to publish date has been changed from 31/01/2016 to 30/06/2020.
20/12/2017: No publications found, verifying study status with principal investigator.