Increasing accessibility of affordable healthy food to adults living with severe mental illness in middlesbrough: Award Final Report

Report
Background
We did this research to help tackle three challenges in Middlesbrough:
To help people who don’t always have enough money to buy food.
To help people with severe mental illness live a healthier life.
To help people with severe mental illness to access healthy, affordable food.
Methods
We invited people with Severe Mental Illness to attend 15 weekly cooking group sessions to develop healthy recipes and three people chose to attend. They planned, cooked, and tasted four different meals and chose their favourite. The meal was then made into frozen ready meals at Teesside University and taken to three different Eco Shops in Middlesbrough. Eco Shops sell food that is leftover from places like supermarkets at cheaper prices to reduce food waste. Customers took the ready meals away and answered a questionnaire about this. They were given a £10 voucher for their time. We also did an online questionnaire to ask the research team how well the team worked together. The research team included academics, healthcare staff, people from the voluntary and community sector and people living with severe mental illness.

Results
Three people with Severe Mental Illness attended the cooking group and all continued attending for 15 weeks. They enjoyed the sessions and said the group helped their physical and mental health. They ate better at the end of the sessions and found it easier to afford food. The Eco Shop customers enjoyed the lentil bolognaise meal and said they would buy this again. The research team found it hard to work across lots of different organisations. However, they learned that it was important to have clear leadership and communication, especially about the process of obtaining ethical approvals for research.

Conclusion
This project found that a recipe planning and cookery group was useful for people living with severe mental illness. Making a frozen ready meal from leftover food and selling this in the Eco Shops appeared to help people to access healthy, affordable food. More research is needed to see if other recipes will also be beneficial.