Mad Dog Cooking Class Series: Effects on Dietary Self-efficacy, Eating Behaviors and Health Outcomes

NCT05934968 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: 22-337 - Ditor
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 14
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Spinal cord injury (SCI) and multiple sclerosis (MS) are both conditions characterized by chronic inflammation as indicated by elevated levels of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. These cytokines can have a wide array of negative impacts such as increasing the risk of depression and the intensity and frequency of neuropathic pain. Recent work in the investigator's laboratory has shown that a 3-month anti-inflammatory diet is not only effective in reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines, but also in reducing depression and neuropathic pain, by approximately 55% and 40%, respectively. However, a one-year follow-up study from the investigator's lab showed such adherence to be very challenging and therefore, strategies are required to address barriers to healthy eating in those with neurological disability. Accordingly, the investigators have developed a modified anti-inflammatory diet (Mad Dog diet) that is more palatable, less expensive and less demanding, as well as a 2-part pre-diet consultation that effectively increased self-efficacy for dietary adherence, and actual adherence one month post-consult. Still, participant feedback suggests that further efforts are needed to help ensure long term adherence to anti-inflammatory diets for those with neurological disability. As such, the investigators have developed the 6-week Mad Dog cooking series. This series consists of a once-weekly cooking class and educational session where a group of individuals with neuromuscular disability can come together to learn about the health benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet, receive instruction on how to cook selected anti-inflammatory recipes, and experiment with various pieces of accessible kitchen equipment that may increase their meal preparation skills. The purpose of this study is to test the 6-week Mad Dog cooking series in individuals with neuromuscular disability to gauge consumer satisfaction and make preliminary measures on self-efficacy for adhering to the Mad Dog anti-inflammatory diet, as well as actual adherence 6 months after the series has been completed. The investigators will also determine if the series has any effect on depressive symptoms.

Conditions

Spinal Cord Injuries; Multiple Sclerosis; Diet, Healthy; Inflammation; Depression; Adherence, Treatment

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (10)

• Custom-designed task self-efficacy questionnaire

  Confidence in one's abilities to adhere to the anti-inflammatory diet. This is a 4-item questionnaire that asks how confident participants are about adhering to the diet for certain amounts of time at certain percentages of adherence. Each item is scored from 1 (not confident at all) to 7 (completely confident). The minimum score is 4 and the maximum score is 28, and higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy.

  Baseline (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Custom-designed task self-efficacy questionnaire

  Confidence in one's abilities to adhere to the anti-inflammatory diet. This is a 4-item questionnaire that asks how confident participants are about adhering to the diet for certain amounts of time at certain percentages of adherence. Each item is scored from 1 (not confident at all) to 7 (completely confident). The minimum score is 4 and the maximum score is 28, and higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy.

  6-week timepoint (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Custom-designed task self-efficacy questionnaire

  Confidence in one's abilities to adhere to the anti-inflammatory diet. This is a 4-item questionnaire that asks how confident participants are about adhering to the diet for certain amounts of time at certain percentages of adherence. Each item is scored from 1 (not confident at all) to 7 (completely confident). The minimum score is 4 and the maximum score is 28, and higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy.

  6-month follow-up timepoint (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Custom-designed barrier self-efficacy questionnaire

  Confidence in one's ability to overcome the barriers associated with adhering to anti-inflammatory diet. This is a 5-item questionnaire that asks participants how confident they are about overcoming the barriers associated with adhering to the anti-inflammatory diet. Each item is scored from 1 (not confident at all) to 7 (completely confident). The minimum score is 5 and the maximum score is 35, and higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy.

  Baseline (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Custom-designed barrier self-efficacy questionnaire

  Confidence in one's ability to overcome the barriers associated with adhering to anti-inflammatory diet. This is a 5-item questionnaire that asks participants how confident they are about overcoming the barriers associated with adhering to the anti-inflammatory diet. Each item is scored from 1 (not confident at all) to 7 (completely confident). The minimum score is 5 and the maximum score is 35, and higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy.

  6-week timepoint (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Custom-designed barrier self-efficacy questionnaire

  Confidence in one's ability to overcome the barriers associated with adhering to anti-inflammatory diet. This is a 5-item questionnaire that asks participants how confident they are about overcoming the barriers associated with adhering to the anti-inflammatory diet. Each item is scored from 1 (not confident at all) to 7 (completely confident). The minimum score is 5 and the maximum score is 35, and higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy.

  6-month follow-up timepoint (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Adherence to the anti-inflammatory diet

  Participants will complete a 7-day food log. Food logs are then analyzed for the number of servings the participant ate that were approved on the anti-inflammatory diet, the number of servings that were not allowed (cheats) and the total servings eaten over the 7 days. Adherence rates are then determined by calculating \[(servings allowed/total servings) \* 100.

  Baseline (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Adherence to the anti-inflammatory diet

  Participants will complete a 7-day food log. Food logs are then analyzed for the number of servings the participant ate that were approved on the anti-inflammatory diet, the number of servings that were not allowed (cheats) and the total servings eaten over the 7 days. Adherence rates are then determined by calculating \[(servings allowed/total servings) \* 100.

  6-week timepoint (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Adherence to the anti-inflammatory diet

  Participants will complete a 7-day food log. Food logs are then analyzed for the number of servings the participant ate that were approved on the anti-inflammatory diet, the number of servings that were not allowed (cheats) and the total servings eaten over the 7 days. Adherence rates are then determined by calculating \[(servings allowed/total servings) \* 100.

  6-month follow-up timepoint (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Custom-designed consumer satisfaction questionnaire

  Consumer satisfaction with the Mad Dog cooking class series will be measured on a custom designed questionnaire containing 10 items scored on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree; ex: I feel that I learned new and helpful information in the Mad Dog cooking class series). The minimum score on this questionnaire is 10 and the maximum score is 70, with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction.

  6-week timepoint (for the intervention group only)

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Depression as determined by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies depression (CES-D)

  Baseline (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Depression as determined by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies depression (CES-D)

  6-week timepoint (for the intervention group and the control group)

• Depression as determined by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies depression (CES-D)

  6-month follow-up timepoint (for the intervention group and the control group)

Study Arms (2)

Mad Dog cooking class intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

This 6-week series consists of a once-weekly cooking class and educational session where a group of individuals with neuromuscular disability can come together to learn about the health benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet, receive instruction on how to cook selected anti-inflammatory recipes, and experiment with various pieces of accessible kitchen equipment that may increase their meal preparation skills. This series will also allow participants to share a meal together once per week.

Other: Mad Dog cooking class series

Control group

NO INTERVENTION

The control group will be given the Mad Dog recipes but will not take part in the Mad Dog cooking class series.

Interventions

Mad Dog cooking class series OTHER

This 6-week series consists of a once-weekly cooking class and educational session where a group of individuals with neuromuscular disability can come together to learn about the health benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet, receive instruction on how to cook selected anti-inflammatory recipes, and experiment with various pieces of accessible kitchen equipment that may increase their meal preparation skills. This series will also allow participants to share a meal together once per week.

Mad Dog cooking class intervention group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• To be eligible for this study, participants are required to be over 18 years of age, fluent in English and at least one year removed from either spinal cord injury (SCI) or diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Participants with SCI can have any level or severity of injury while participants with MS can have had any type of MS.

You may not qualify if:

• Younger than 18
• Not fluent in English
• No SCI or diagnosis of MS

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Brock University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Brock University

St. Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1, Canada

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Spinal Cord Injuries; Multiple Sclerosis; Inflammation; Depression; Treatment Adherence and Compliance

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Spinal Cord Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Trauma, Nervous System; Wounds and Injuries; Demyelinating Autoimmune Diseases, CNS; Autoimmune Diseases of the Nervous System; Demyelinating Diseases; Autoimmune Diseases; Immune System Diseases; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Health Behavior

Study Officials

• David S Ditor, PhD

  Brock University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

David S Ditor, PhD

CONTACT

905-688-5550; dditor@brocku.ca

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 29, 2023
• First Posted: July 7, 2023
• Study Start: September 1, 2023
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2024
• Study Completion: August 1, 2024
• Last Updated: July 7, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)