Occupational engagement: African American culinary ministers' perceptions and beliefs about meal preparation and eating practices

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions about the food, food preparation practices, and eating practices of African American culinary ministers who participate in a faith-based action research project to promote health within the church community. Eating and food challenges exist within many African American communities that contribute to the disproportionate numbers who are affected by chronic diseases. Food deserts which limit food choices contribute to disproportionate spread of chronic disease among African Americans (Donkin et al., 1998). Health illiteracy about healthy eating practices combined with low income and poor education also contribute to health disparities within the African American community (Ownby et al., 2012). Current health care services and nutritional improvements efforts in the African American community are insufficient to address this epidemic. The African American church through its ministries, may be able to provide faith-based community health initiatives to improve the health of the community. The culinary ministry may be one of the ministries able to provide such an initiative because they are the trusted source responsible for meal preparation within the African American church. However, no studies could be found about the beliefs and perception of culinary ministers related nutritional meal preparation and eating practices. Thus, the current study was launched. Of the 9 culinary ministers who volunteered to participate in the research project, 8 completed the entire process. The data collection process included 2 focus groups, 7 learning sessions and a meal preparation session. The culinary ministers prepared a healthy meal for 30 members of the Seniors Ministry. During the initial focus group, a Food Diary (FD) produced by the University of Western Ontario (Appendix D) was distributed to the culinary ministers. Participants were asked to include the food, beverages and portion sizes of meals over a 5-day sequence. The FD was collected from the culinary ministers during the final focus group. The transformative mixed research method was utilized to collect and analyze the findings. The Person-Environment-Occupational Performance Model (PEOP) and the Health Belief Model served as the theoretical lenses for this study. Occupational science, with its focus on the intersectionality of people, their environments, and their daily life occupations, provided the disciplinary lens for interpreting historical and current factors influencing the perceptions about the food, food preparation practices, and eating practices of African American culinary ministers. The five themes that emerged from the data analysis were: authority and voice; holiday and everyday foods; food, health, and faith; trust and distrust of the health care system; and group supports. These themes revealed the interplay of person, environmental, and occupation factors on the occupational performance of the culinary ministers and their perceptions about their occupational roles for influencing the health of the church members. Some of the factors were assets and contributed to the occupational performance and positive perceptions; other factors created barriers to achievement and fulfillment of occupational roles.