Cooking HEalthy and Facilitating Early Childhood Development: CHEF-ED Study (CHEF-ED)

Re-establishing Inter-generational Cooking Education and Improving Diet Quality Through an Integrated Parenting and Healthy Cooking Program for Low-income Families With Young Children

This study aims to test a new online program we developed for parents and their preschool children, called CHEF-ED. CHEF-ED focuses on healthy cooking, parental feeding practices, and involving children in home food preparation.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Teaching Healthy Cooking Skills to Parents and Their Preschool Children
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: CHEF-ED + Food Delivery; Behavioral: Food Delivery Only

Detailed Description

All study activities take place online over a 3-month period, and participants are randomly assigned to one of three groups: the CHEF-ED + Food Delivery group, the Food Delivery Only group, or the control group. Participants will not know to which group they are assigned until after they complete the time point 1 surveys. The assignment will be determined randomly using a computer program (equivalent to flipping a coin).

To test how well the program works, regardless of group assignment, participants are asked to complete surveys at two different time points: Time point 1 = pre-program, shortly after enrollment, and Time point 2 = post-program, about 8-10 weeks later. The surveys take about 2 hours to complete online at each time point and will include questions about the participant's and their child's dietary intake, their cooking frequency/quality, food parenting practices, and program content retention. Surveys will also include questions about family's demographics (such as participant's and their child's date of birth, ethnicity, race, sex, etc.), and household food access.

The CHEF-ED + Food Delivery group receives a one-time home food delivery of healthy cooking ingredients and kitchen utensils, such as cooking oil, spices, whole wheat pasta, low sodium soy sauce, bowls, and recipe books. Participants in this group also receive links to weekly CHEF-ED online lessons via text /email message for 7 weeks. Each weekly lesson will include a short video, infographics, and recipes.

The Food Delivery Only group receives a one-time home food delivery of healthy cooking ingredients and kitchen utensils, but no other program materials.

The control group receives no program materials or food delivery.

About 8-10 weeks after completing the time point 1 surveys, participants will receive links to complete the time point 2 surveys. After completing the post-program surveys, participants who were in the Food Delivery Only or control group will receive additional program materials that were not previously provided due to their group assignment. This means that the Food Delivery Only group, after completing the time point 2 surveys, will receive links to all of the CHEF-ED program materials (videos, infographics, recipes) and, the control group, after completing the time point 2 surveys, will receive the one-time healthy ingredients and kitchen utensils delivery and links to all of the CHEF-ED program materials.

Additionally, participants in the CHEF-ED + Food Delivery group, after the post-program surveys, may be invited to take part in an interview to share their experience with the program. This interview will be conducted over the phone or a video conference platform. The information participants share during the interview, such as suggestions and insights on materials accessibility, will help us improve the program.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 300
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Sheryl O. Hughes, PhD; Phone Number: 713-798-7095; Email: shughes@bcm.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Arely Y. Balderas, BA; Phone Number: 713-798-9175; Email: arely.balderas@bcm.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • Recruiting
      • Baylor College of Medicine
      • Contact: Nilda Micheli, BS; Phone Number: 713-798-6737; Email: nildam@bcm.edu
      • Contact: Arely Y. Balderas, BA; Phone Number: 713-798-9175; Email: arely.balderas@bcm.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Sheryl O. Hughes, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents/caregivers of preschooler children ages 3 to 5 living in the greater Houston area.
• Must have access to the Internet through a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.
• Should be able to read, write, and communicate in English or Spanish.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parents/caregivers and children who have any kind of food allergies, medical conditions, or dietary restrictions that may affect participation in the program.
• Parents/caregivers under the age of 18.
• Parents/caregivers of children with severe developmental delays.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CHEF-ED + Food Delivery group; Participants in this arm will receive a one-time delivery of non-perishable basic culinary ingredients and kitchen utensils and access to the CHEF-ED program, which includes weekly online program materials, such as videos, infographics, and recipes sent via text or email over 7 weeks.	Behavioral: CHEF-ED + Food Delivery; CHEF-ED is a 7-week, digital, video-based parental intervention that teaches healthy cooking practices and an optimal way to involve children in home cooking. Each week features a video, infographics, and recipe content. The content is designed to be integrated into the home food environment without major changes to shopping habits. However, some basic culinary ingredients that are featured may not already be part of participating family pantry stocks. To support participants in effectively learning the healthy cooking strategies, participating families are provided a one-time home food delivery of non-perishable basic culinary ingredients and kitchen utensils, such as cooking oil, spices, whole wheat pasta, low sodium soy sauce, bowls.
Active Comparator: Food Delivery Only group; Participants in this arm receive a one-time delivery of non-perishable basic culinary ingredients and kitchen utensils but will not have access to the CHEF-ED program during the study period.	Behavioral: Food Delivery Only; The Food Delivery Only intervention involves participants receiving a one-time home food delivery of non-perishable basic culinary ingredients and kitchen utensils, such as cooking oil, spices, whole wheat pasta, low sodium soy sauce, bowls.
No Intervention: Control group; Participants in this arm will not receive the healthy cooking ingredients delivery nor will they have access to the CHEF-ED program during the study period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Child diet quality	Parent report of child dietary intake using a validated food frequency survey.	From baseline assessment to the post-intervention assessment. The intervention program is 7 weeks.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parent diet quality	Self-report of diet quality using a validated diet history questionnaire.	From baseline assessment to the post-intervention assessment. The intervention program is 7 weeks.
Parent cooking frequency/quality	Self-report of healthy cooking using a validated questionnaire.	From baseline assessment to the post-intervention assessment. The intervention program is 7 weeks.
Food parenting practices	Second order constructs from a validated food parenting questionnaire - encourage trying new foods; structure; external control.	From baseline assessment to the post-intervention assessment. The intervention program is 7 weeks.
Knowledge of best feeding practices	Six items related to child eating behaviors reported by parents.	From baseline assessment to the post-intervention assessment. The intervention program is 7 weeks.

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sample characteristics	Self-report of demographic information, food security status, and acculturation.	From baseline assessment to the post-intervention assessment. The intervention program is 7 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Baylor College of Medicine
• Collaborators: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sheryl O. Hughes, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 19, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 16, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 16, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): April 23, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 22, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Chronic disease; Food security; Nutrition education; Feeding practices; Cooking practices
• Other Study ID Numbers: H-53855; 2023-68015-40967 (Other Grant/Funding Number: USDA NIFA)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No