Culinary Skills of Visually Impaired People and Associated Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the culinary skills (CS) of visually impaired (VI) individuals and identify barriers to their culinary autonomy. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Benjamin Constant Institute, an educational institution for the VI students, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: One-hundred and twenty-one adults with VI, aged between 19 and 77 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sociodemographic, economic, and clinical data, and data related to skills and barriers to culinary practice were collected through interviews conducted at the Benjamin Constant Institute. Levels of CS were assessed using an adapted Brazilian Culinary Skills and Healthy Eating Questionnaire (composed of the following scales: Availability and Accessibility of Fruits and Vegetables Index, Culinary Attitude, Culinary Behavior, Culinary Self-Efficacy, and Fresh Produce Consumption Self-Efficacy). ANALYSIS: Descriptive and inferential statistics, including logistic regression, were applied to evaluate associations between CS levels and sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: Of the participants, 78.5% exhibited medium CS, and 21.5% had high CS. Barriers such as difficulty following recipes, using household measures, and preparing fried foods were commonly reported. Black participants were more likely to demonstrate high CS compared with others (odds ratio, 4.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.30-16.51). Braille users were less likely to achieve high CS (odds ratio, 0.28; 95% confidence interval, 0.05-1.00). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Most visually impaired participants demonstrated medium CS, with substantial barriers limiting culinary autonomy.