Using the Food Skills Questionnaire (FSQ) to Evaluate a Cooking Intervention for University Students: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Purpose: To pilot test the Food Skills Questionnaire (FSQ) to evaluate a cooking intervention. Methods: Students attending Western University were invited to participate in 3 cooking classes over a 3-month period. All participants were asked to complete the FSQ pre- and post-intervention. The FSQ evaluated food skills in 3 domains—Food Selection and Planning, Food Preparation, and Food Safety and Storage—with a maximum score of 100 per domain. Domain scores were then computed as a weighted average for the Total Food Skills Score out of 100. Open-ended questions assessed participants’ perceptions of the classes. Results: Forty-four students participated. There was a significant increase in food planning (70.6 ± 13.5–77.6 ± 14.3, P < 0.01), food preparation (67.5 ± 14.0–74.9 ± 12.9, P < 0.01), food safety (78.0 ± 9.9–80.8 ± 13.0, P = 0.04), and total food skills (71.9 ± 8.9–77.8 ± 10.6, P < 0.01) post-intervention. Content analysis of open-ended questions indicated that participants enjoyed healthy recipes, supportive Peer Educators, discussions, the cooking experience, socializing, and the safe environment. Conclusions: The FSQ shows strong potential for evaluating basic (e.g., peeling, chopping, slicing) to intermediate (e.g., meal planning) food skills in an effective and feasible manner. It can also capture changes in specific domains, allowing the development of more focused nutrition education and skills-based interventions.

Factors That Predict Food Skills in Canadian Gym Members: A National Cross-Sectional Survey

“…This study found that being a student was not a significant negative predictor of TFSs until food-related behaviours were accounted for. It is difficult to compare these results to other literature, as many studies examine food skills in student populations, rather than in general adult populations with both students and non-students [23][24][25][26]53].…”

“…The respondents who had taken a nutrition/cooking course had significantly higher TFSs than those who had not. It is probable that taking a nutrition/cooking course would increase one's knowledge and confidence of food skills [9,23,26]; yet the question remains: how do we motivate those who are not interested to take such courses? Perhaps the solution would be to teach food skills at a young age when they are interested and gender stereotypes are less developed [47,49,55].…”

“…Many previous studies on food skills have focused on university students and young adults [10,13,[23][24][25][26], with results suggesting that increasing age [24,25], female gender [10,24,25], independent living situations [25], and having taken a food/nutrition course [23][24][25][26] were associated with higher food skills. This study looks to expand on this work by assessing food skills in a more diverse group of adult Canadians who hold gym memberships.…”