Evaluation Study for the Chef Anchor 3.0 Program

Summary

Objectives:

1. (Primary)To estimate the potential effects of the cooking program on the people with MCI/dementia and their informal caregivers;
2. To investigate if the potential effects can be maintained after the completion of the program.

Study design and participants:

A convenience sample of 68 pair older adults with MCI/dementia and their informal caregivers from the Chef Anchor 3.0 Programme will be referred to the research team. Overall, participants will be assigned to intervention group and waitlist control group in a ratio of 1:1. Allocation will take into account the participants' availability and the programme capacity. Assessors of outcomes and data analyst will be blinded throughout the whole study.

During the first 10 weeks, the intervention group will undergo the 10-week programme in the "Chef Anchor 3.0", while no activity for the waitlist control group. Then, from week 10 to 20, the waitlist control group will attend the same 10-week programme.

Measurements:

Main outcome measures for people with MCI/dementia will include confidence in cooking (Primary), cooking capability, satisfaction with autonomy in cooking, Satisfaction with meal choices, Worried about future cooking ability and meal choices, cognitive function, self-reported appetite, psychological well-being, family harmony and satisfaction, as well as self-rated health.

Outcome measures for informal caregivers will include confidence in care recipient' s cooking, worried about future cooking ability and meal choices of care recipient, caregiver burden, psychological well-being, family harmony and satisfaction, as well as self-rated health.

Other measures will include attendance rate, home practice rate, drop-out rate, programme satisfaction, and recommendation to others.

Hypotheses

1. The confidence in cooking, cooking capability, satisfaction with autonomy in cooking, satisfaction with meal choices, worried about future cooking ability and meal choices, cognitive function, self-reported appetite, psychological well-being, family satisfaction, and self-rated health of older adults with MCI/dementia would improve after the programme;
2. The confidence in care recipient's cooking, worried about future cooking ability and meal choices of care recipient, psychological well-being, family satisfaction, caregiver burden, and self-rated health of informal caregivers would improve after the programme;
3. The 10-week programme is acceptable for the most of older adults with MCI/dementia and their informal caregivers.

Conditions

• Mild Cognitive Impairment
• Dementia

Interventions

OTHER

10-week programme

1. 2-week health education (4 sessions, 60 minutes per session) Social workers and occupational therapists will explain the cognitive training elements of the program and introduce the "DementiAbility Methods" to the participants. Nutritionist, speech therapists, and Chinese medicine practitioner will share insights from their perspectives to enhance participants' understanding of cognitive impairments. 2. 8-week cooking class (5 sessions, 120 minutes per session) The culinary instructor will teach participants to cook homemade dishes while integrating "procedural memory" into recipes. Older adults and their caregivers will cook together based on the "procedural recipe" designed by caregivers, aiming to enhance communication between them and create joyful memories. The cooking class will begin with 20-30 minutes an interactive nutrition-based session. The session themes will focus on healthy diet and food safety. Participants will be able to ask questions and make comments.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council Limited

  collaborator OTHER

• The University of Hong Kong

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Pui Hing Chau · School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-10-01

Primary Completion

2025-11-30

Completion

2025-11-30

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations