Objective: To improve understandings of the enablers and barriers to maintaining good quality of life for people dying, caring and grieving in rural areas.Design and setting: In-depth interviews designed on participatory research principles were held with bereaved carers living in a small community in rural Tasmania. Participants had cared for someone until their death within the three-year period prior.Participants: 19 participants comprising 18 bereaved former carers and one person with a life-limiting illness, and all but four were over retirement age.Study Aim: To explore experiences of end of life care in a rural community.Results: Participants discussed the challenges they experienced during end of life caring, including transport into the city for treatment, and access to basic and specialised services. However, they also reported positive aspects of formal and informal palliative care, and described experiences of personable, expert, flexible and innovative caregiving. Conclusions: The rural location enabled personalised and innovative expressions of care. This research adds new insight into rural end of life palliation, as a complex intersection of supererogation 1 , innovation and place-driven care.What is already known on the subject• There is unmet need for palliative services in rural areas 1 We use the term supererogation in this paper to refer to acts which might be considered additional to essential tasks.
2• Rural Palliative care research is an under-researched area• Informal, community support plays a vital role in end-of-life care What this paper adds• Bereaved carers living in rural areas may have both negative and positive experiences of end-of-life care• Rural end-of-life care is a complex intersection of supererogation, innovation and place-driven interventions• The lived experience of rural carers may improve palliative care
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries experienced something of a boom in interest in gardening. Gardens have long been considered as refuges into which we retreat to escape various struggles and challenges. In this study we examine the characteristics and functions of the garden as a refuge during the period of increased garden interest associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of qualitative results about garden experiences from 3,743 survey respondents revealed intertwining garden and emotional geographies. Utilising non-representational and therapeutic landscape theories, we found multifarious and heightened experiences of non-material aspects of gardens; that is, the sensory and emotional aspects. People experienced, for example, a sense of joy, beauty, and reassurance, a greater attunement to the natural world and an increased sense of nature connection than they had at other times: birds
felt
louder. These heightened sensory and emotional experiences had therapeutic benefits, across age and geographical spectrums, during these difficult times. This research improves our understandings of the positive potential of non-material aspects of gardens in the creation of therapeutic landscapes in and beyond COVID-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted social life. Gardens and yards have seemingly risen as a lifeline during the pandemic. Here, we investigated the relationship between people and gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic and what factors influenced the ability of people to garden. We examined survey responses (n = 3,743) from gardeners who reported how the pandemic had affected personal motivations to garden and their use of their gardens, alongside pandemic-related challenges, such as food access during the first wave of COVID-19 (May-Aug 2020). The results show that for the respondents, gardening was overwhelmingly important for nature connection, individual stress release, outdoor physical activity and food provision. The importance of food provision and economic security were also important for those facing greater hardships from the pandemic. While the literature on gardening has long shown the multiple benefits of gardening, we report on these benefits during a global pandemic. More research is needed to capture variations in public sentiment and practice – including those who do little gardening, have less access to land, and reside in low-income communities particularly in the global south. Nevertheless, we argue that gardening can be a public health strategy, readily accessible to boost societal resilience to disturbances.
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