An evaluation of the Kinect-Ed presentation, a motivating nutrition and cooking intervention for young adolescents in grades 6-8.

Recently, public health messaging has included having more family meals and involving young adolescents (YAs) with meal preparation to improve healthful diets and family dinner frequency (FDF). Kinect-Ed, a motivational nutrition education presentation was created to encourage YAs (grades 6-8) to help with meal preparation and ultimately improve FDF. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Kinect-Ed presentation, with the goals of the presentation being to improve self-efficacy for cooking (SE), food preparation techniques (TECH), food preparation frequency (PREP), family meal attitudes and behaviours, and ultimately increase FDF. A sample of YAs ( n = 219) from Southern Ontario, Canada, completed pre- and postpresentation surveys, measuring FDF, PREP, SE, and TECH. Kinect-Ed successfully improved participants' FDF ( p < 0.01), PREP ( p < 0.01), SE ( p < 0.01), and TECH (<0.01). Overall, goals of the presentation were met. Encouraging YAs to help prepare meals and get involved in the kitchen may reduce the time needed from parents to prepare meals, and, in turn, allow more time for frequent family dinners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]