Assessing the impact of the primary school-based nutrition intervention Petits cuistots--parents en réseaux.

OBJECTIVES This study sought to provide an intermediate impact assessment of the nutrition intervention Petits cuistots--parents en réseaux (Little Cooks--Parental Networks) on: 1) knowledge, attitude, capacity and experience with regard to nutrition, diet and cookery, and 2) parental and/or family participation in school. PARTICIPANTS A total of 388 students from grades 5 (participants) and 6 (non-participants). SETTING The evaluation of the nutrition intervention took place in each of the seven participating elementary schools, all of which are located in Montreal's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. INTERVENTION The program component "Little Cooks" is a nutrition workshop run by community dieticians. Each of the eight annual workshops features a food item and nutrition theme with a recipe for a collective food preparation and tasting experience. Classroom teachers participate to provide classroom management and program support. The "Parental Networks" component of the program invites parents to assist with the nutrition workshop, and offers additional parent and family activities which link to nutrition workshop themes (e.g., dinners or visits to local food producers). OUTCOME The program had some impact on knowledge of the nutrient content of food, food produce and cooking; attitude and experience with tasting of new or less common foods; and perceived cooking capacity. Families with students participating in the program participated more in school activities than did families of students not in the program. CONCLUSIONS Our assessment indicates a potential program impact upon several intermediate impact measures, and in so doing highlights a promising nutrition capacity-promoting intervention.