Cook-Grow!: Insights from a Pilot Study on a Virtual Cooking, Gardening, and Nutrition Education Program for Childhood Cancer Survivors and their Families.

Interventions that teach families to garden and cook may improve fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in children. However, this intervention approach has not been evaluated in childhood cancer survivors (CCS), who frequently have low FV intake. We developed and deployed a remotely delivered, gardening, nutrition, and cooking pilot “Cook-Grow!” for CCS and their families. The program consisted of five weekly educational lessons and activities for CCS and family members to complete. We delivered a gardening kit and groceries to participants’ homes that included a recipe in each lesson. Families completed weekly surveys and participated in semi-structured interviews that assessed the usage and acceptability of the program at the end of the pilot. Nine CCS 7–17 years old with prior diagnoses of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 6), acute myeloid leukemia (n = 1), and Hodgkins lymphoma (n = 2) and their family members completed the study. Almost all (93%) of the families strongly agreed that they would make the recipe at home and that the cooking lesson would help them cook healthier meals at home. Most (71%) preferred virtual/remote administration. The interview responses (n = 6) highlighted participants’ reasons for participating as well as their perceptions of the program’s acceptability, including the belief that it was important for their child to eat healthily, particularly after cancer treatment. Overall, families thought the lessons were engaging and promoted family cooking. These preliminary results show that a remotely delivered cooking and nutrition program can be engaging and be further optimized for CCS and their families.