How effective is the “Eat Better Feel Better” community‐based cooking intervention at tackling barriers of time, cost, waste and knowledge of healthy eating in Glasgow, Scotland?
Authors: Garcia Ada Lizbeth , Reardon Rebecca Lizbeth , Hammond Elizabeth , Parrett Alison Lizbeth , Gebbie‐Diben Anne 
Published: November 2023

Barriers of time, cost, waste and knowledge hinder cooking practice which is linked to poor diets. We aimed to evaluate the short and mid‐term effectiveness of a community‐based cooking intervention developed by the National Health Service (NHS) in Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC), Scotland in tackling the barriers of time, cost, waste and knowledge of healthy eating.

We used a single‐group repeated measures design. A 6‐week, 2 hour per week cooking intervention was delivered in community‐based facilities in four health and social care partnership localities in NHS GGC. All participants who enrolled in this intervention were asked to complete questionnaires at baseline and post‐intervention, a follow‐up evaluation was conducted after 3–4 months via postal questionnaires.

Of the 117 participants who enrolled, 62 completed baseline and post‐intervention questionnaires and 17 completed questionnaires at all three time‐points. The majority (65%) were female, over 45 years old, of Scottish descent, and were considered socioeconomically deprived. Confidence constructs related to cooking skills were assessed with a scale between 1 (not confident) and 7 (very confident), and are reported as medians for baseline, post‐intervention and follow‐up (p for changes from baseline to follow‐up). For the participants who completed all three questionnaires, a positive and significant change in 10 out of 12 confidence constructs was seen. These were as follows: “following a simple recipe (5, 6, 7; p=0.038), “planning meals before shopping” (4, 6, 5; p=0.030), “shopping on a budget (4, 5, 6; p=0.037), “shopping for healthier food” (4, 5, 5; p=0.008), “cooking new foods” (2, 5, 4; p=0.002, “cooking healthier foods” (4, 6, 5; p=0,006), “storing foods safely” (4, 6, 7; p=0.011); “using leftovers for other meals” (3.5, 5, 5; p=0.040), “reading food labels” (3, 5, 6; p=0.001) and “food hygiene” ( 5, 6, 7; p=0.034).

Baseline and follow‐up results for cooking practices such as eating ready‐meals changed from 59% to 24% of those who responded “yes” (p=0.034) and throwing away leftovers from a median of 3 (once a week) to 2 (< once a week) (p=0.017). Similarly, frequency in eating healthier choices (e.g. oily fish) increased from 2 (< once a week) to 4 (2–4 times a week) (p=0.039) while knowledge for correct portion sizes increased from 35% to 88% (p=0.004). The median values for self‐reported spending on food per week were identical between the three time points (£40.00, p=0.653). However, the median values for the amount of money spent on takeaway/fast food per week at baseline, post‐intervention and follow‐up was £8.00, £5.00, and £2.00, respectively.

In conclusion, despite the limited number of respondents, the results clearly show that the intervention was effective in increasing confidence and reducing the barriers of time, waste and knowledge in the short and mid‐term and has the potential to be embedded as part of public health improvement strategies to improve diet in Scotland.

Support or Funding Information

Research supported by University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.