Cooking Skills Index: Development and reliability assessment

Abstract

Objective Describe the development and the reliability assessment of an index that evaluates the confidence in performing cooking skills considered relevant in Brazil. Methods The development of the Cooking Skills Index was based on the self-efficacy beliefs and its theoretical reference was the Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population. It measures, from zero to 100, the degree of confidence in performing ten cooking skills considered as facilitators for the implementation of Brazilian Dietary Guidelines recommendations. Experts (face validity) evaluated the index. A pilot study (n=10) and a test-retest (n=51) was conducted by telephone interviews and computerized assistance with adults responsible for food preparation at home in São Paulo. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha, quadratic weighted kappa and prevalence and bias adjusted kappa. Results The Cooking Skills Index was coherent with the adopted theoretical framework according to the experts. It was fast and easy to apply to the participants. It showed a good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha >0.70) and an acceptable to excellent reproducibility (weighted kappa=0.55, adjusted kappa=0.89). Conclusion The Cooking Skills Index has a good reliability and is therefore recommended to evaluate cooking skills confidence in Brazilian studies developed in contexts similar to those of this study.

Systematic review of instruments for assessing culinary skills in adults: What is the quality of their psychometric properties?

“…Studies were carried out in Brazil (1 study) [40], Denmark (1 study) [36], the United States of America (2 studies) [38;41], the United Kingdom (1 study) [35], Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland (one study) [39], Netherlands (1 study) [42], and Australia (1 study) [37]. All of them were published in English.…”

“…All of them were published in English. Most studies were published between 2017 and 2019 [36-40; 42]. One study did not seek ethical approval [35].…”

“…The studies were performed on different participants: parents of schoolchildren responsible for food preparation at home (one study) [40]; adult Danish consumers with variable household incomes (one study) [36]; adults living in the United States (US), but not necessarily US citizens (one study) [38]; adults from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland who are responsible for preparing a main meal at least once per week (one study) [39]; men and women from low-to middle-income households (three studies) [35;37;41]; and adults, mostly highly educated, and dietitians (one study) [42]. Study samples were mostly composed of women [35; 37; 40-42]. Sample sizes ranged from 51 to 1049 individuals.…”

“…Some studies developed instruments to assess one domain related to culinary skills, such as cooking self-efficacy (confidence (two studies)) [35; 40], cooking competencies (experience and knowledge (one study)) [36], or multiple domains related to such phenomenon, in order to measure the effectiveness of a culinary and nutrition education program [41]. Other studies developed instruments aimed at evaluating latent phenomena related to culinary skills, such as food agency (one study) [38], food skills (two studies) [35; 39], and food literacy (two studies) [37; 42].…”

“…The studies were performed on different participants: parents of schoolchildren responsible for food preparation at home (one study)[40]; adult Danish consumers with variable household incomes (one study)[36]; adults living in the United States (US), but not necessarily US citizens -7, where 1 is very poor and is very good how good are you at: cook a healthy meal with only few ingredients on hand'[39] or 'During the past month how often did you reuse leftovers for Content validity (including face validity): 4 qualitative interviews with experts working in the area of health promotion including cooking and food skills interventions and education and literature review Pilot testing: 40 internal pilot surveys and 14 pilot survey field based interviews to assess clarity of the questions and how easy participants found the measures to complete Empirical research on the domains of food literacy. Feedback on content and format of the questionnaire by Foodbank program facilitators.…”