Better Together: A Pilot Study on Cooking Matters for Adults With Developmental Disabilities and Direct Support Professionals

Abstract

Adults with developmental disabilities face barriers to making healthy lifestyle choices that mirror the barriers faced by the direct support professionals who serve them. These two populations, direct support professionals and adults with developmental disabilities, are likely to lead inactive lifestyles, eat unhealthy diets, and be obese. Moreover, direct support professionals influence the nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and health behaviors of the adults with developmental disabilities whom they serve. We piloted a cooking-based nutrition education program, Cooking Matters for Adults , to dyads of adults with developmental disabilities (n = 8) and direct support professionals (n = 7). Team-taught by a volunteer chef and nutrition educator, Cooking Matters for Adults uses an active learning approach to teach food preparation safety skills and nutrition knowledge to inform healthy food and beverage choices. We assessed healthy food preparation, intake of a balanced diet, healthy food and beverage choices, and cooking confidence and barriers at pre-test, post-test, and 6-months after the intervention. Among both adults with developmental disabilities and direct support professionals, positive trends in healthy food preparation, eating a balanced diet, and reduction in cooking barriers were observed at post-test and 6-months. We also qualitatively assessed knowledge of and attitudes toward healthy eating, frequency of food and beverage intake, knowledge about kitchen skills and safety, as well as overall satisfaction, cooking confidence, and acceptability of the dyad approach. Participants with developmental disabilities and direct support professionals reported that they learned about healthy food and beverage choices and various cooking skills. Participants reported confidence in skills learned and were satisfied with the intervention and approach of including adults with developmental disabilities and direct support professionals in the intervention together.

Interventions to reduce or prevent lifestyle risks for people with disability

“…• Included in this review are 20 studies from the peer reviewed literature and 13 studies from the grey literature search. Of the studies evaluating an intervention, 26 of 28 interventions were effective in improving at least one outcome type: consumer physical health [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] , consumer knowledge and perceptions 3,17,20,[22][23][24] , staff knowledge and perceptions 3,17,25,26 , and receipt or provision of physical health care. 5,15,17,27 • Included were 2 systematic reviews, 4,14 5 randomised controlled trials, 2,5,9,11,28 2 controlled prepost studies, 27,29 1 longitudinal cohort study, 10 1 case series, 13 9 pre-post studies, 3,[6][7][8]12,18,20,25,…”

“…Length of education ranged from one session 13 to 18 months. 4 Examples of resources include recipe cards and menus, 3,12 exercise booklets and DVDs, 2 visual aids (e.g. a calendar), 7 and Fitbits.…”

“…• Practical support or demonstrations were included in 9 studies, such as exercise sessions and cooking classes. [2][3][4]7,8,12,14,16,17 All 9 were effective in improving at least one outcome type.…”

“…Eight of 9 were effective in improving at least one outcome type. 3,7,15,17,[25][26][27] • Involvement of unpaid or family carers was mentioned in four studies and varied: participants were able to attend activities with a carer or support person 2,6 , providing carers with information leaflets 6,9,12 or personalised reports, 12 and active involvement of family in the intervention. 12 All four were effective in improving consumer physical health.…”

Eating Experiences of People with Disabilities: A Qualitative Study in Spain

“…Eating is an essential component of human occupational activities [ 1 ]. Food-related topics are frequently mentioned in interventions with groups of people with autism or developmental disorders, either regarding their positive psychosocial effects [ 2 , 3 , 4 ] or as a way of promoting healthy habits. Occupational therapists regularly take part in community programs focused on nutritional practices [ 5 ].…”