Outcomes of a Therapeutic Gardening Program in a Mental Health Recovery Center

Smidl, Sarah Lynn; Mitchell, Douglas M.; Creighton, Cynthia

doi:10.1080/0164212x.2017.1314207

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Almost all participants in a study conducted in the US lauded recovery communities as a significant contributor to positive change in various psychosocial domains (Whitley et al 2008). Another study from the US explored caring for a garden, and found that gardening programmes were capable of facilitating recovery from mental health problems and the development of interpersonal relationships (Smidl, Mitchell, and Creighton 2017). The results suggest that building and caring for a garden facilitates recovery from mental health problems and can create a recovery community.…”

Section: Social Support As Direct Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social support and recovery from mental health problems: a scoping review

Bjørlykhaug

Karlsson

Hesook

et al. 2021

Nordic Social Work Research

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Several systematic reviews have suggested the linkages between social support and mental health or the use of mental health services in general. There is a need to develop the knowledge on different associations between social support, social work and mental health recovery, and the various features of social support. Inequality in health is a rising problem. Broader integration of social support-orientation in services and policy can play an important role in reducing health inequalities and enhance recovery. In this article we aim to scope existing literature regarding (a) the associations between social support, mental health and recovery, and (b) describe features of community mental health services that incorporate social support. Further, we discuss facilitators and barriers for social work and social support. Advanced searches were conducted in five relevant databases: Social Science Premium Collection, CINAHL, SweMed+, Idunn, and PsychInfo Ovid, and we did a qualitative synthesis of the included papers. Twenty-nine papers met the inclusion criteria in this scope and are organized into two major themes: a) Associations between mental health and social support, and b) Key features of social support-oriented community mental health services.

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Section: Social Support As Direct Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social support and recovery from mental health problems: a scoping review

Bjørlykhaug

Karlsson

Hesook

et al. 2021

Nordic Social Work Research

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“…Participation in community gardening has been linked to economic and ecological benefits [9], and evidence indicates that such amenities improve health [10–12], wellbeing [13, 14], social [15, 16], and sustainability [3, 17–19] outcomes at an individual and planetary scale. This is because community gardens and other forms of gardening provide affordable and convenient fresh food, horticulture therapy and learning environments that improve academic performance, social interaction, and respite [13, 20–28]. Wells et al [29] and Soga et al [30] conclude that community gardens can address health inequalities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Upon closer examination gardening can take many forms and is a popular leisure activity with therapeutic benefits [13, 28, 50, 51]. Research suggests the existence of gender differences (likely reflective of gender conditioning) in gardening behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“You feel like you’re part of something bigger”: exploring motivations for community garden participation in Melbourne, Australia

Kingsley¹,

Foenander²,

Bailey³

2019

BMC Public Health

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Background Increased global urbanisation has led to public health challenges. Community gardens are identified as a mechanism for addressing socio-ecological determinants of health. This study aims to explore motives for joining community gardens, and the extent to which participation can be facilitated given barriers and enablers to community gardening. Such a study fills a gap in the public health literature, particularly in the Australian context. Methods This paper presents findings from semi-structured interviews with 23 participants from 6 community gardens across Melbourne. Applying phenomenological, epistemological and reflexive methodologies and thematic analysis of the data, this study provides a snapshot of drivers of community garden participation. Results Results were categorised into six enabling themes to participation. These themes revolved around (i) family history, childhood and passion for gardening; (ii) productive gardening, sustainability and growing fresh produce in nature; (iii) building social and community connections; (iv) community and civic action; (v) stress relief; and (vi) building identity, pride and purpose. Time costs incurred, garden governance and vandalism of garden spaces were among the barriers to community garden participation. Conclusion Although an interest in the act of gardening itself may be universally present among community gardeners to varying degrees, the findings of this study suggest that motivations for participation are diverse and span a range of ancestral, social, environmental, and political domains. This study contributes exploratory insights on community garden motivations and sustained involvement across multiple urban sites in Melbourne (Australia). This study recommends extending this work by undertaking future quantitative research that can move from local case studies to a national guidelines on how to engage more people in urban agriculture activities like community gardening. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7108-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Urbanisation and disconnection from the natural environment present significant public health, environmental and social challenges, due to their associations with increased social isolation, community health concerns, environmental degradation and poor mental health outcomes [1,2,3,4]. Community gardens have been viewed as a way of addressing and bridging these concerns by, for example, promoting improved community connections [1,5,6,7,8,9], enhancing ecological sustainability [10,11] and restoring psychological wellbeing [12,13]. Therefore, it is not surprising that there has been a growing appetite for establishing community gardens as preventative health, neighbourhood renewal and environmental policy strategies for “sustainable urban living” [1,7,11,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review Protocol Investigating Community Gardening Impact Measures

Kingsley

Bailey

Torabi

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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Existing community gardening research has tended to be exploratory and descriptive, utilising qualitative or mixed methodologies to explore and understand community garden participation. While research on community gardening attracts growing interest, the empirical rigour of measurement scales and embedded indicators has received comparatively less attention. Despite the extensive body of community gardening literature, a coherent narrative on valid, high quality approaches to the measurement of outcomes and impact across different cultural contexts is lacking and yet to be comprehensively examined. This is essential as cities are becoming hubs for cultural diversity. Systematic literature reviews that explore the multiple benefits of community gardening and other urban agriculture activities have been undertaken, however, a systematic review of the impact measures of community gardening is yet to be completed. This search protocol aims to address the following questions: (1) How are the health, wellbeing, social and environmental outcomes and impacts of community gardening measured? (2) What cultural diversity considerations have existing community garden measures taken into account? Demographic data will be collected along with clear domains/constructs of experiences, impacts and outcomes captured from previous literature to explore if evidence considers culturally heterogeneous and diverse populations. This will offer an understanding as to whether community gardening research is appropriately measuring this cross-cultural activity.

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Outcomes of a Therapeutic Gardening Program in a Mental Health Recovery Center

Cited by 20 publications

References 5 publications

Social support and recovery from mental health problems: a scoping review

Social support and recovery from mental health problems: a scoping review

“You feel like you’re part of something bigger”: exploring motivations for community garden participation in Melbourne, Australia

A Systematic Review Protocol Investigating Community Gardening Impact Measures

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