Voice It!

As a part of her doctoral dissertation, all-star Cooking Matters volunteer Viki Shayna has spent the better part of the last two years investigating how participating in Cooking Matters changed experience with food for women with diabetes.  Her findings were incredible. "Women living in Detroit who attended the Conner Creek Medical Center programs and who completed Cooking Matters were invited to complete a survey and participate in seven-weeks of follow-up classes that combined photography and discussion. The PhotoVoice method was used to collect data, and a phenomenological framework was used to evaluate the data. A comparison group allowed statistical analysis of quantitative medical measurements.

Statistically significant results indicated that women who participated in Cooking Matters had lower Hemoglobin A1c values than those who did not, and that these values continued to drop over a nine-month time period after the classes ended. Furthermore, participants exercised more, ate breakfast more often and read labels more often than non-participants. Participants suffered from less hunger issues than non-participants. Cooking Matters was found to be a financially feasible means to improve the lives both qualitatively and quantitatively of those who participate in the program."

You can see the photos taken by the women who participated above.