Documenting the Gusto group cooking intervention for knowledge transfer

Introduction/Background The effect of the holistic, intensive acquired brain injury (ABI) rehabilitation program developed at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital, France (5 days/week for 7weeks) was demonstrated (Poncet et al., 2017). This program includes the Gusto intervention (i.e. group cooking activity once a week). Based on these results, and to ensure the sustainability of the intervention and to enable it being used in other rehabilitation centers and other settings, the authors wished to document the Gusto intervention. Objective To document the Gusto intervention for the purpose of knowledge transfer. Material and method Using a participatory and iterative approach, two occupational therapists (OT) created a theoretical logic model (Champagne et al., 2011) of the intervention and documented its components using a common language (i.e. the International classification of functioning disability and health (ICF); OMS, 2001). Four experts (OTs and neuropsychologists) validated the documentation. Results The Gusto intervention targets 7/8 domains from the Activities and Participation sections of the ICF, the 8th domain (engagement in education, work) not being covered by Gusto. More than 50 body functions appear to be targeted (e.g. calculation functions - consider the number of guests and modify the food portions accordingly) and more than 80 activities/participation are involved (e.g. listening). Conclusion Because cooking is complex, persons with ABI require many body functions/capacities to be able to cook meals. Documenting Gusto with the ICF should allow an understanding of the intervention by different professions (clinician, manager…) and thus its applicability in other rehabilitation centers and for other populations (e.g. the elderly).