In the last blog, I talked about focusing on what it is you want your cooking courses to achieve. Once you have done that, you need to think about how to find out if your course has (or hasn’t) achieved this. For many groups, it will be enough to have an informal discussion with participants …
Research and evaluation
Cooking skills blog 8 – How do you find out if your cooking skills courses are ‘working’?
Posted in CFHS Blog, CFHS updates, Finding out if your cooking skills courses are working
Areas of Work: Cookery skills, Information provision, Research and evaluation
The nature and extent of food poverty/insecurity in Scotland
In October 2014, CFHS commissioned a group of research scientists to consider questions of food insecurity/poverty in Scotland. The main aim of the research was to explore the wider context of household food poverty/insecurity (HFI) in Scotland and to develop an understanding of the current level and nature of HFI to inform policy and practice. The …
Publishers: Commissioned by CFHS, NHS Health Scotland, Rowett Institute
Publication category: Policy and planning
Related topics: community food activity, food poverty, research
Areas of Work: Food poverty and access, Research and evaluation
Research – exploring the impacts of community retailing
CFHS is commissioning research to explore the economic, social and environmental impacts that community retailers are bringing to the communities they work with and within, and if and how, they are helping to address health inequalities. The research will be completed by March 2016.
Posted in CFHS updates, Research and consultations
Areas of Work: Community cafes and retailing, Food poverty and access, Research and evaluation
A review of practical cooking skills activities which focus on promoting an affordable healthy balanced diet for adults, young people and their families within low-income communities in Scotland
In 2014 Community Food and Health Scotland/NHS Health Scotland commissioned a realist review of community cooking skills activities run by community initiatives and agencies. The review planned to explore issues such as how the social circumstances of participants and the approach of the cooking skills activities can affect the outcomes. The researchers analysed 81 sets …
Publishers: Avril Blamey and Associates, Commissioned by CFHS, NHS Health Scotland
Publication category: Cooking and growing
Related topics: community food activity, cookery sessions, cooking, evaluation, research
Areas of Work: Cookery skills, Research and evaluation
Evaluation support
In autumn 2014 six organisations participated in a four-day Evaluating Impact Learning Account workshop programme on evaluation; all completed the course and are applying their learning back in their work. Four organisations were awarded Evaluating Impact Development Funding of £1,000. We expect to gather evaluation reports from all these organisations shortly and will keep you …
Posted in CFHS updates
Area of Work: Research and evaluation
Older people eat well: literature review
In early 2014, CFHS worked with Evaluation Support Scotland to commission a short evidence review of the literature on the ways in which the third sector supports older people to eat well. This has now been published as part of the ESS ‘Stitch in Time’ programme. The starting point for the review was the nested …
Publishers: Commissioned by CFHS, Evaluation Support Scotland
Publication category: Policy and planning
Related topics: community food activity, diet and nutrition, evaluation, older people, research
Areas of Work: Older people, Research and evaluation
Making the case
This publication focuses on the work of community food initiatives working with older people and will be of use to community food initiatives in building and articulating the case for their work with older people and those considering developing work in this area. It gives an overview of the needs, contexts and strategies engaged in developing food work with …
Publishers: Community Food and Health (Scotland), NHS Health Scotland
Publication category: Business and project development
Related topics: diet and nutrition, evaluation, food poverty, inclusion, older people
Areas of Work: Older people, Research and evaluation
CFHS research project – do you run practical cooking skills activities for adults or young people?
Do you have cooking skills evaluation reports that are gathering dust and too few people to read them? If your answer is yes, please can you help us? 100s of groups and agencies across Scotland run cooking activities for people in low-income communities. But there is very little publically available written evidence about what difference …
Posted in CFHS updates, News
Areas of Work: Cookery skills, Research and evaluation
Cooking skills blog 10: Finding out if your cooking skills courses are ‘working’: How can you improve your questionnaires?
Questionnaires are a popular way of evaluating cooking skills courses. If they are planned well, they are a quick and easy to use and can be used for two different purposes, i.e. to find out: What difference your course has made to participants (e.g. has it improved their cooking skills or eating habits?) or/and; What …