2018 Research Day on Teaching Kitchens and Self Care Practices

Harvard School Of Public Health, Boston MA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This R-13 application requests support for a conference entitled 2018 Research Day on Teaching Kitchens and Related Self Care Practices to be held at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), Greystone campus on February 6, 2018. This will be the first conference co-sponsored by the CIA and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), both of which have jointly established the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative (TKC), an organization with 32 member organizations in the U.S., Italy, and Japan, each of which has developed a ?teaching kitchen? program. This inaugural conference is motivated by the need to develop an evidence-base for the field of ?teaching kitchens? -- a young and emerging field which has not yet been subjected to formal research but is of great interest to the medical, scientific, corporate and public health communities due to its interdisciplinary nature and potential to address the needs of a range of patient populations with chronic disease or enhanced risk of chronic disease. The focus of ?teaching kitchens? Includes (1) food and nutrition education; (2) cooking and culinary instruction; (3) enhanced movement and exercise; (4) mindfulness practices; (5) use of web based and IT devices; and (6) strategies to optimize behavioral change (e.g., health coaching). The planning for the conference will be directed by the Organizing Committee, which will be composed of individuals responsible for program, scientific review, finance, fundraising, communications, and logistics. These individuals will come from the current leadership of the Harvard-CIA Teaching Kitchen Collaborative. All submissions will undergo peer-review for quality, timeliness, and fit with the overall program, in a process conducted by the scientific review committee. As currently envisioned, researchers will present their original work relating to teaching kitchen curricula and research, in oral presentations, plenary and panel discussions, and poster presentations, with the purpose of advancing the design, methodology, implementation and evaluation of teaching kitchen programs as applied to individuals with increased cardiovascular risk (e.g. obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome) and other populations seeking to enhance health and wellness. The primary areas this first teaching kitchens research and education day will focus on will include: 1) Best Practices; 2) Research Methods; 3) Scalability/IT and 4) Demonstration projects to establish evidence of clinical and cost-effectiveness. These key areas parallel the TKC's existing Working Groups and are thought to be essential to the further maturation and evaluation of emerging Teaching Kitchen models across the US and globally.