Digital Commons @ SPU

The effectiveness of culinary therapy: A study examining cooking as an anticipatory grief-specific intervention in clinical grief and bereavement support groups

Grief is both simultaneously a universal and unique phenomenon that all individuals will experience at one point in their life or another. Likewise, food, in general, is a vital component of healthy every day functioning, as well as the sustenance of life. Therefore, it follows that cooking does play a large role in creating overall healthy functioning for human beings. There is very minimal research available regarding the efficacy of culinary interventions, as it relates to grief and bereavement support groups; however, the research that does exist suggests that engaging in cooking or baking increases an individual's positive affect and mental well-being. The research also shows that engaging in support groups for anticipatory grief before the death of a loved one significantly reduces the prevalence of complicated grief and related mental illness. This proposal intends to examine and show that the use of culinary interventions within the context of an anticipatory grief support group increases positive outcomes and reduces the instance of complicated grief after the death of a loved one with a terminal illness. This study will be conducted longitudinally, comparing a grief support treatment group that includes culinary therapy with a control group that does not. Recurring measures will be used in order to quantify the difference between the groups, should they exist. Through the inclusion of culinary interventions into an anticipatory grief specific support group, the researchers hope to isolate and identify an effective intervention that reduces the occurrence of complicated grief or severe mental illness, following the loss of a loved one. Keywords: cooking, grief, bereavement, culinary therapy, support group, hospice