Food Net
| Description | Food Net improves eating habits in deprived areas of Birmingham by running cooking sessions to tackle identified barriers to healthy eating. |
|---|---|
| Setting | Community venues and schools |
| Populationting | People from deprived areas of Birmingham |
| Intervention summary | Local people have been recruited and trained as Food Health Advisors to run five week courses of cook and taste sessions. These include some nutrition education and information about the fat, sugar and salt content of foods. Each session involves cooking a healthy dish, easily prepared from affordable locally available ingredients. |
| Outcome Summary | Increase in reported intake of fruit and vegetables and in cooking confidence. |
| Startup Cost | Hard to say this far into the project, but Food Net was set up on £150 000 per annum in 2000. |
| Running Cost | £95 000 per annum |
| Funding | Two Primary Care Trusts (Heart of Birmingham and Birmingham North and East). Food Net was set up on £150 000 per annum through Health Improvement Plan (HIMP) acceleration monies in 2000. In 2003-5, it was funded through 5 A Day money. |
| Started | 2000 |
| Ended | Ongoing |
| Location | Birmingham, England |
| Contact |
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Background
Food Net improves eating habits in deprived areas of Birmingham by running cooking sessions to tackle identified barriers to healthy eating.
What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Poor eating habits in people living in deprived areas of Birmingham
What local organisations are involved?
Food Net is hosted by the NHS and works with schools, and local voluntary and community organisations, who contact us with groups of potential participants.
How many people are running this project and who are they?
Four part time Food Health Advisors, one Food Net coordinator, plus some overall management by a public health nutrition lead.
What local population are you targeting?
People from deprived areas of Birmingham
How many people are you targeting?
From January to April 2006, 459 participated in cooking sessions, and 882 benefited indirectly by being cooked for by participants.
Interventions
What interventions are you using to address the problem?
Local people have been recruited and trained as Food Health Advisors to run five-week courses of cook and taste sessions. These include some nutrition education using the Balance of Good Health model (developed by the Health Education Authority, now "owned" by the Food Standards Agency 1 ) and information about the fat sugar and salt content of foods. Each session involves cooking a healthy dish, which is easily prepared from affordable, locally available ingredients, and participants are encouraged to take part rather than the session being a demonstration.
Is the project design based on evidence? If so, please state reference.
No, not really. It was based on our own local Needs Assessment, completed in 2000-1.
Outcome
What outcomes or planned outcomes are you measuring?
Reported increase in consumption of fruit and vegetables and confidence in cooking a healthy meal. We also collect qualitative comments on other changes participants have made. We are about to embark on longer term follow-up to see whether changes to eating habits are maintained 6-12 months later.
Do you have any outcomes or results yet? If so, what are they?
After five sessions, the average increase in reported intake of fruit and vegetables is 1.4 portions, and in cooking confidence an increase of 1 point on a 5 point Likert scale.
Is your project relevant to a government target or guideline?
Public Service Agreement 3: To halt the year-on-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010 in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole 2 , and The NHS Cancer plan: A plan for investment, a plan for reform 3 .
Feedback
What obstacles did you have to overcome to set up this project?
Short term funding. I spent more time writing funding applications than evaluating, until we got mainstream funding from two Primary Care Trusts in 2005.
What have you learned about the project so far?
Food Net has evolved to meet demands and in response to evaluation. There is huge demand for cooking skills in low income areas across ethnic groups, and that showing people how to eat more healthily is more effective than telling them. We use local people trained as food health advisors and they have more credibility with the public than health professionals in low income areas. They are very effective if given a lot of training, supervision and support. Nutrition messages are easily confused and it is important that the public get consistent messages from the NHS, so this supervision of health trainer type roles is vital.
What would you do differently?
Nothing. The project has evolved as a type of action research. We learnt by doing and changed things as we went along.
References:
- The Food Standards Agency. The Balance of Good Health. 2001. www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/bghbooklet.pdf (accessed 17 April 2007).
- Department of Health. National Standards, Local Action: Health and Social Care Standards and Planning Framework 2005/06 and 2007/08. 2004. www.dh.gov.uk (search for 3533, accessed 17 April 2007).
- Department of Health. The NHS Cancer plan: A plan for investment, a plan for reform. 2000. www.dh.gov.uk (search for 22293, accessed 17 April 2007).