Pilot Tests Virtual Culinary Support for Caregivers of Children With Cancer

A small pilot study from Drexel University and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that caregivers of children undergoing cancer treatment engaged with a remotely delivered program combining culinary instruction and individualized nutrition coaching. The findings, published in Integrative Cancer Therapies, indicate that participants considered the support useful, but the study did not establish improvements in children’s health outcomes.

The eight-week intervention, called Caregivers’ Kitchen, involved 10 caregiver-child pairs. It included four live virtual culinary workshops and four one-on-one coaching calls. The sessions were designed to help caregivers respond to nutrition challenges that can arise during treatment, including nausea, poor appetite, changes in taste and weight changes.

According to the researchers, participants particularly valued practical cooking guidance, accessible recipes and coaching tailored to their family’s circumstances. The individual calls allowed caregivers to discuss specific difficulties, set realistic goals and consider how the information might fit their child’s changing needs.

The program focused not only on what foods to prepare, but also on adapting meals as symptoms and nutritional priorities change. During active treatment, caregivers may be focused on helping a child eat enough despite side effects. After treatment, priorities may shift toward healthy growth, weight management and longer-term eating habits, the research team said.

Although overall satisfaction and engagement were encouraging, participants also reported that scheduling and lengthy assessments could add to the burden they were already managing. Those comments will inform a revised version of the program, with the researchers planning to make culinary sessions more flexible and self-paced while retaining individualized coaching.

The authors emphasized that this was a feasibility study with a small sample. Its findings show that families were willing to participate and generally accepted the intervention, but they do not demonstrate that Caregivers’ Kitchen improves dietary intake, treatment-related complications, body composition, weight or other clinical measures.

A larger, more rigorous trial is planned to examine outcomes for both children and caregivers. The researchers intend to assess children’s nutrition and treatment-related outcomes, along with caregiver confidence, preparedness and distress when managing a child’s nutrition. The intervention was developed and delivered by a multidisciplinary team spanning pediatric oncology, oncology dietetics, nutrition research, survivorship, medical culinary education and culinary research.