Healthy cooking classes at a children's cancer hospital and patient/survivor summer camps: initial reactions and feasibility

Objective: Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) have been shown to practise suboptimal dietary intake and may benefit from nutrition interventions during and after treatment. Cooking classes have become popular for encouraging healthy eating behaviours in community-based programming and academic research; however, literature on teaching cooking classes in CCS is limited. The purpose of the present study was to address the development and implementation of classes for CCS based on a recently developed framework of healthy cooking behaviour.

Design: A conceptual framework was developed from a systematic literature review and used to guide healthy cooking classes for CCS in different settings.

Setting: One paediatric cancer hospital inpatient unit, one paediatric cancer in-hospital camp programme and two off-site paediatric cancer summer camp programmes.

Subjects: One hundred and eighty-nine CCS of varying ages and thirteen parents of CCS.

Results: Seventeen classes were taught at camps and seven classes in the hospital inpatient unit. Healthy cooking classes based on the conceptual framework are feasible and were well received by CCS.

Conclusions: Cooking classes for CCS, both at the hospital and at camp, reinforced the principles of the conceptual framework. Future trials should assess the dietary and anthropometric impact of evidence-based healthy cooking classes in CCS.