Josie Paul

Kitchen Conversations: Dialogic Space in a Culinary Setting for Adolescents Facing Anxiety

2024

Abstract: This dissertation examines the experience of anxious adolescents participating in a culinary arts program in a school setting. The philosophical orientation that guides this research is social construction, and the specific practice guiding the culinary arts sessions described here is called collaborative-dialogic practice. Both social construction and collaborative-dialogic practice will be introduced below. The first section, Chapter 1 (introduction), details the conversational similarity found in two different contexts – the kitchen and the collaborative therapy room, followed by the recount of an important experience that served as a catalyst for this study. Next, background information on anxiety in adolescents, the social construction of anxiety and its treatment, social construction as a philosophical orientation, collaborative dialogic practices, and culinary therapy will be explained. This introduction concludes with a look at mental health care and education and, lastly, the research questions that guided this study. Following this general introduction, Chapter 2 describes the methodology used in this study and addresses ethical considerations. In Chapter 3, the study’s results, including tables that represent coding across the entire data set, as well as thematic maps, are presented. Lastly, discussion and implications, including the essential findings, study strengths and limitations, suggestions for future research, and conclusions, complete Chapter 4.