Cooking With Confidence: An Inclusive Cooking and Kitchen Safety Course to Promote Quality of Life and Life Skills Performance for Adults with Disabilities

Cooking with Confidence is an inclusive life skills cooking course that utilizes the client-centered approach of Occupational Therapy (OT) to teach culinary basics and kitchen safety to community members with disabilities. The program aimed to increase confidence and quality of life of participants through therapeutic cooking for community members that have little or no cooking experience due to physical or intellectual disability and/or diagnosis. This study examined the impact of cooking on independence and confidence in cooking and how it can be beneficial to self-esteem, safety, socialization and overall quality of life.