Psychoeducational Intervention Model to Improve Nutritional Status in Low Resource Settings
Condition: Child Malnutrition; Child Overnutrition; Malnutrition in Children; Malnutrition, Child; Nutrition Disorders, Child; Malnutrition
MeSH terms: Malnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Child Nutrition Disorders; Overnutrition
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Comer en Familia is a psychoeducational intervention in nutrition aimed to improve
      nutritional status in families, particularly mothers and caregivers of children between the
      ages of 5 and 13 years and their children through providing healthy cooking lessons in their
      communities where the optimal preparation and use of local foods based on vegetables is
      promoted at the same time the importance of cooking at home and eating as a family is
      highlighted.
    

Detailed description: 
      It is well known that in order to promote a proper nutrition and to prevent malnutrition in
      Mexican population, both by deficiencies and excesses, it is essential to recover Mexican
      food culture. It is known that only information is insufficient to implement healthy
      lifestyles. There are a number of barriers that interfere with the adoption of healthy
      dietary practices that need to be identified and addressed in order to achieve the adoption
      of healthy eating behaviors. Therefore, Comer en Familia focuses on the people, their
      lifestyles, motivations and social context, based on an action methodology. To design the
      program, culinary traditions from different country regions were integrated, the habits of
      proper food preparation at home, promoting eating in the company of family with special
      emphasis on the importance of enjoying the taste of food were also integrated. This model
      delivers information on the transcendence of preparing food at home, the impact of nutrients
      on health and the influence of eating habits of the family in the conducts of their members
      in a practical way. Comer en Familia is a nutritional educational model that aims to promote
      proper nutrition, and therefore improve health and welfare of the beneficiaries of food
      banks. Through 24 cooking workshops throughout a period of a year, each workshop every 15
      days, communities will be trained in optimal food preparation and the use of local food,
      based mainly on vegetables, while promoting the importance of cooking and having family
      meals. Anthropometric evaluations and interviews on food practices will be conducted to the
      beneficiaries at the beginning and at the end of the program. Anthropometric evaluations will
      be carried out and psychosocial risks surveys will be applied to the children in charge of
      the mothers/ caregivers from Comer en Familia. Also, in a sub-sample of the population of
      mothers/caregivers benefitted from the program, fasting capillary glucose and hemoglobin will
      be measured at the beginning and at the end of Comer en Familia.
    

Intervention name(s): Psychoeducational intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): A mobile kitchen visits the 16 selected communities every 2 weeks for a period of 1 year. A 30 minute cooking lesson is given by a trained instructor, the recipes have been designed to be quick and easy to make, use local and inexpensive ingredients, contain mostly vegetables and have a good taste. During the lesson, healthy habit and cooking tips are mentioned as well as the importance of cooking at home and having family meals . A printed version of the recipe is given to every participant. Every session participants are encouraged to prepare the recipe. At the end of the lesson all the participants get to taste the meal and express their opinion.
Other intervention name(s): Psychoeducational intervention in nutrition
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention