Boston Medical Center (BMC) serves many underserved, low-income patients and has developed an innovative strategy to combat food insecurity including a preventative food pantry, a teaching kitchen, and a rooftop farm that provides fresh produce directly to the patients. The presence of this well-established, three-pronged approach places BMC in an ideal position to develop a nutritional education intervention that supports experiential learning in this high-risk population. For this first exploratory study, 75 enrolled participants will be given a free mobile application with recipes designed to build habits. Participants will cook at least three meals weekly for two months using the app. Self-reported survey data and activity on the app will be collected and used to assess the feasibility of teaching cooking skills through a mobile application.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Participants will use the meal planner function on the mobile application to plan and cook at least 3 meals a week for 12 weeks.
Boston Medical Center
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Frequency of mobile app use
Data will be collected by the mobile app on the frequency of use throughout the 12 week intervention.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Recipe completion rate
Data will be collected by the mobile app on the rate of recipe completion throughout the 12 week intervention. Higher rates of completion are considered more favorable.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Satisfaction with the mobile application
An investigator developed satisfaction questionnaire will be used to assess satisfaction with the mobile application.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Change in dietary patterns
This outcome will be measured using PrimeScreen, which is a validated brief dietary screening tool developed by the Harvard School of Public Health. It will provide the change in frequency of consumption of fruits, vegetables, lean protein, carbohydrates, fat, and processed foods.
Time frame: baseline, 12 weeks
Change in nutrition knowledge
Change in nutrition knowledge will be assessed through the adapted Slater Nutrition Knowledge Survey. These questions apply knowledge by asking participants to use their knowledge to make decisions rather than repeating the taught nutrition recommendations.
Time frame: baseline, 12 weeks
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