Culinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet: an interventional pilot study
Abstract Background Poor-quality diet is associated with one in five deaths globally. In the United States, it is the leading cause of death, representing a bigger risk factor than even smoking. For many, education on a healthy diet comes from their physician. However, as few as 25% of medical schoo...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2021-05-01
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| Series: | BMC Medical Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02702-y |
| _version_ | 1818832670743855104 |
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| author | Nathan I. Wood Rebecca D. Gleit Diane L. Levine |
| author_facet | Nathan I. Wood Rebecca D. Gleit Diane L. Levine |
| author_sort | Nathan I. Wood |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Poor-quality diet is associated with one in five deaths globally. In the United States, it is the leading cause of death, representing a bigger risk factor than even smoking. For many, education on a healthy diet comes from their physician. However, as few as 25% of medical schools currently offer a dedicated nutrition course. We hypothesized that an active learning, culinary nutrition experience for medical students would improve the quality of their diets and better equip them to counsel future patients on food and nutrition. Methods This was a prospective, interventional, uncontrolled, non-randomized, pilot study. Ten first-year medical students at the Wayne State University School of Medicine completed a 4-part, 8-h course in culinary-nutritional instruction and hands-on cooking. Online assessment surveys were completed immediately prior to, immediately following, and 2 months after the intervention. There was a 100% retention rate and 98.8% item-completion rate on the questionnaires. The primary outcome was changes in attitudes regarding counselling patients on a healthy diet. Secondary outcomes included changes in dietary habits and acquisition of culinary knowledge. Average within-person change between timepoints was determined using ordinary least squares fixed-effect models. Statistical significance was defined as P ≤ .05. Results Participants felt better prepared to counsel patients on a healthy diet immediately post-intervention (coefficient = 2.8; 95% confidence interval: 1.6 to 4.0 points; P < .001) and 2 months later (2.2 [1.0, 3.4]; P = .002). Scores on the objective test of culinary knowledge increased immediately after (3.6 [2.4, 4.9]; P < .001) and 2 months after (1.6 [0.4, 2.9]; P = .01) the intervention. Two months post-intervention, participants reported that a higher percentage of their meals were homemade compared to pre-intervention (13.7 [2.1, 25.3]; P = .02). Conclusions An experiential culinary nutrition course may improve medical students’ readiness to provide dietary counselling. Further research will be necessary to determine what effects such interventions may have on the quality of participants’ own diets. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T02:06:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-88fbdfa11c4f4df58c49ebe989858798 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6920 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T02:06:43Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medical Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-88fbdfa11c4f4df58c49ebe9898587982022-12-21T20:40:55ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202021-05-0121111110.1186/s12909-021-02702-yCulinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet: an interventional pilot studyNathan I. Wood0Rebecca D. Gleit1Diane L. Levine2Department of Internal Medicine, Yale New Haven HospitalDepartment of Sociology, Stanford UniversityDepartment of Internal Medicine, Wayne State UniversityAbstract Background Poor-quality diet is associated with one in five deaths globally. In the United States, it is the leading cause of death, representing a bigger risk factor than even smoking. For many, education on a healthy diet comes from their physician. However, as few as 25% of medical schools currently offer a dedicated nutrition course. We hypothesized that an active learning, culinary nutrition experience for medical students would improve the quality of their diets and better equip them to counsel future patients on food and nutrition. Methods This was a prospective, interventional, uncontrolled, non-randomized, pilot study. Ten first-year medical students at the Wayne State University School of Medicine completed a 4-part, 8-h course in culinary-nutritional instruction and hands-on cooking. Online assessment surveys were completed immediately prior to, immediately following, and 2 months after the intervention. There was a 100% retention rate and 98.8% item-completion rate on the questionnaires. The primary outcome was changes in attitudes regarding counselling patients on a healthy diet. Secondary outcomes included changes in dietary habits and acquisition of culinary knowledge. Average within-person change between timepoints was determined using ordinary least squares fixed-effect models. Statistical significance was defined as P ≤ .05. Results Participants felt better prepared to counsel patients on a healthy diet immediately post-intervention (coefficient = 2.8; 95% confidence interval: 1.6 to 4.0 points; P < .001) and 2 months later (2.2 [1.0, 3.4]; P = .002). Scores on the objective test of culinary knowledge increased immediately after (3.6 [2.4, 4.9]; P < .001) and 2 months after (1.6 [0.4, 2.9]; P = .01) the intervention. Two months post-intervention, participants reported that a higher percentage of their meals were homemade compared to pre-intervention (13.7 [2.1, 25.3]; P = .02). Conclusions An experiential culinary nutrition course may improve medical students’ readiness to provide dietary counselling. Further research will be necessary to determine what effects such interventions may have on the quality of participants’ own diets.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02702-yCookingDietFoodNutritionMedical educationCurriculum |
| spellingShingle | Nathan I. Wood Rebecca D. Gleit Diane L. Levine Culinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet: an interventional pilot study BMC Medical Education Cooking Diet Food Nutrition Medical education Curriculum |
| title | Culinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet: an interventional pilot study |
| title_full | Culinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet: an interventional pilot study |
| title_fullStr | Culinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet: an interventional pilot study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Culinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet: an interventional pilot study |
| title_short | Culinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet: an interventional pilot study |
| title_sort | culinary nutrition course equips future physicians to educate patients on a healthy diet an interventional pilot study |
| topic | Cooking Diet Food Nutrition Medical education Curriculum |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02702-y |
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