Cook like a Boss Online: an adapted
intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic
that efectively improved children’s perceived
cooking competence, movement competence
and wellbeing
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated physical inactivity, poor dietary intake and reduced
mental wellbeing, contributing factors to non-communicable diseases in children. Cooking interventions are proposed as having a positive infuence on children’s diet quality. Motor skills have been highlighted as essential for
performance of cooking skills, and this movement may contribute to wellbeing. Additionally, perceived competence
is a motivator for behaviour performance and thus important for understanding intervention efectiveness. Therefore,
this research aimed to assess the efectiveness of an adapted virtual theory-based cooking intervention on perceived
cooking competence, perceived movement competence and wellbeing.
Methods: The efective theory-driven and co-created ‘Cook Like A Boss’ was adapted to a virtual fve day camp-styled
intervention, with 248 children across the island of Ireland participating during the pandemic. Pre- and post-intervention assessments of perceived cooking competence, perceived movement competence and wellbeing using
validated measurements were completed through online surveys. Bivariate Correlations, paired samples t-tests and
Hierarchical multiple regression modelling was conducted using SPSS to understand the relationships between the
variables and the efect of the intervention.
Results: 210 participants had matched survey data and were included in analysis. Signifcant positive correlations
were shown between perceived cooking competence, perceived movement competence and wellbeing (P<0.05).
Children’s perceived cooking competence (P<0.001, medium to large efect size), perceived movement competence
(P<0.001, small to medium efect size) and wellbeing (P=0.013, small efect size) all signifcantly increased from pre
to post intervention. For the Hierarchical regression, the fnal model explained 57% of the total variance in participants’ post-intervention perceived cooking competence. Each model explained a signifcant amount of variance
(P<0.05). Pre-intervention perceived cooking competence, wellbeing, age and perceived movement competence
were signifcant predictors for post-intervention perceived cooking competence in the fnal model.
This research was funded by Research development funding from Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast. A National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia leadership Research Fellowship (APP2009340)
ID Code:
28106
Deposited On:
28 Feb 2023 14:28 by
Ellen Breen
. Last Modified 28 Feb 2023 14:28