Community food work supporting mental health and wellbeing
Posted: February 24, 2012
Building Evidence of Impact
This package has been designed to help community organisations collect evidence of the impact of their work around food, mental health and wellbeing. Also to contribute to the wider evidence base around the role that food plays in positive mental health and wellbeing.
The package consists of:
Four days fully funded input from experts in the field
Ongoing support from CFHS over 12 months to implement learning within organisations. This includes a small amount of funding to cover the costs of carrying out a piece of evaluation.
All training fees, venue costs and a contribution to reasonable travel costs if required.
Twelve participants have now completed the taught part of the package and have been offered funding to implement a piece of evaluation in their organisations. The groups will come together on 4 July 2013 to share the results of their evaluations and consider the evidence that has been generated.
Evaluation of CHANGES Eat Well – Stay Active course
CFHS has provided some funding to CHANGES community health project in Musselburgh to carry out an evaluation of its Eat Well – Stay Active course. The aim of the course is to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of people living in East Lothian. It is a six week course that consists of five weekly two hour sessions and a sixth session after a five week break. The sessions include some light physical activity, learning about a healthy diet, and some basic cooking. The programme has been running since 2010.
The evaluation, which is being carried out in conjunction with the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy (SCPHRP), is a retrospective one that invites all the participants from courses to date to take part. The aim is to see if the course has achieved its outcomes in the short and long term.
The objectives for the evaluation are to: - determine which outcomes the course appears to have an effect on and whether short term effects are sustained in the longer term; - explore and gain an understanding of the mechanisms of change as a result of the course. For example, if people are buying healthier food, was it as a direct result of the course, because they found it that it was cheaper, or for reasons unrelated to the course; - explore the parts of the course that people enjoyed and found useful, and the parts that they found unhelpful; and - explore any unintended consequences (positive and negative) of taking part in the course.
Mind the Menu
This event for community organisations working with food in the field of mental health and wellbeing took place on Wednesday June 6 at Discovery Point in Dundee.
Sixty people from a range of organisations attended the day. Simon Bradstreet from Scottish Recovery Network and Emma Lyon from NHS Health Scotland provided the policy context for the day. Their presentations are available here.
Workshops were provided by Edinburgh Food and Health Training hub, Trellis, Glasgow Association for Mental Health, Augment, The Walled Garden and Wisecraft and Dundee Healthy Living Initiative.
The day was a good opportunity for people working on food and mental health and wellbeing to meet, share information and resources.
A full report on the day is now available.
Previous work on food, mental health and wellbeing
CFHS and the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health produced a joint bulletin on the links between food, mental health and wellbeing in 2010. The bulletin includes a look at current literature on the topic, together with five case studies of work in different parts of the country.
Community food work supporting mental health and wellbeing
Building Evidence of Impact
This package has been designed to help community organisations collect evidence of the impact of their work around food, mental health and wellbeing. Also to contribute to the wider evidence base around the role that food plays in positive mental health and wellbeing.
The package consists of:
Twelve participants have now completed the taught part of the package and have been offered funding to implement a piece of evaluation in their organisations. The groups will come together on 4 July 2013 to share the results of their evaluations and consider the evidence that has been generated.
For more details on the programme, contact Sue.
Evaluation of CHANGES Eat Well – Stay Active course
CFHS has provided some funding to CHANGES community health project in Musselburgh to carry out an evaluation of its Eat Well – Stay Active course. The aim of the course is to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of people living in East Lothian. It is a six week course that consists of five weekly two hour sessions and a sixth session after a five week break. The sessions include some light physical activity, learning about a healthy diet, and some basic cooking. The programme has been running since 2010.
The evaluation, which is being carried out in conjunction with the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy (SCPHRP), is a retrospective one that invites all the participants from courses to date to take part. The aim is to see if the course has achieved its outcomes in the short and long term.
The objectives for the evaluation are to:
- determine which outcomes the course appears to have an effect on and whether short term effects are sustained in the longer term;
- explore and gain an understanding of the mechanisms of change as a result of the course. For example, if people are buying healthier food, was it as a direct result of the course, because they found it that it was cheaper, or for reasons unrelated to the course;
- explore the parts of the course that people enjoyed and found useful, and the parts that they found unhelpful; and
- explore any unintended consequences (positive and negative) of taking part in the course.
Mind the Menu
This event for community organisations working with food in the field of mental health and wellbeing took place on Wednesday June 6 at Discovery Point in Dundee.
Sixty people from a range of organisations attended the day. Simon Bradstreet from Scottish Recovery Network and Emma Lyon from NHS Health Scotland provided the policy context for the day. Their presentations are available here.
Simon Bradstreet presentation [PowerPoint, 3.5Mb]
A Mental Health Strategy for Scotland 2012-2015 (Emma Lyon) [PowerPoint, 1Mb]
Workshops were provided by Edinburgh Food and Health Training hub, Trellis, Glasgow Association for Mental Health, Augment, The Walled Garden and Wisecraft and Dundee Healthy Living Initiative.
The day was a good opportunity for people working on food and mental health and wellbeing to meet, share information and resources.
A full report on the day is now available.
Previous work on food, mental health and wellbeing
CFHS and the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health produced a joint bulletin on the links between food, mental health and wellbeing in 2010. The bulletin includes a look at current literature on the topic, together with five case studies of work in different parts of the country.