Green Care Farms

Abstract

Objective: To explore the value of day services at green care farms (GCFs) in terms of social participation for people with dementia. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with people with dementia who attended day services at a GCF (GCF group, n = 21), were on a waiting list (WL) for day services at a GCF (WL group, n = 12), or attended day services in a regular day care facility (RDCF group, n = 17) and with their family caregivers. Results: People with dementia in the GCF and WL group were primarily males, with an average age of 71 and 76 years, respectively, who almost all had a spousal caregiver. People with dementia in the RDCF group were mostly females with an average age of 85 years, most of whom had a non-spousal caregiver. For both the GCF and RDCF groups, it was indicated that day services made people with dementia feel part of society. The most important domains of social participation addressed by RDCFs were social interactions and recreational activities. GCFs additionally addressed the domains “paid employment” and “volunteer work.” Conclusion: GCFs are valuable in terms of social participation for a particular group of people with dementia. Matching characteristics of adult day services (ADS) centers to the preferences and capacities of people with dementia is of importance. Diversity in ADS centers is therefore desirable.

The Homestead: Developing a Conceptual Framework through Co-Creation for Innovating Long-Term Dementia Care Environments

“…Furthermore, the self-reported quality of life by residents was higher in green care farms compared with regular nursing homes [ 29 ]. Similar findings were found for day care services at green care farms [ 23 , 30 ]. Although various types of small-scale homelike care models exist, there is a lack of theoretical frameworks underpinning components and possible working mechanisms.…”

“…Originating outside the healthcare sector, green care farms combine agriculture with care activities and aim to enable independence and participation in people with dementia for as long as possible. The rationale of green care farms is that people should be able to participate in daily activities as much as possible and care service delivery is integrated in daily life [ 23 ]. Furthermore, the physical environment (including animals, plants, natural elements) offers many opportunities to incorporate these activities into normal daily care practices.…”

Regular Doses of Nature: The Efficacy of Green Exercise Interventions for Mental Wellbeing

“…GE reduces stress, depression and blood pressure, increases self-esteem, mood and wellbeing, and enhances heart rate variability. These benefits seem to be universally obtainable, with evidence of health and wellbeing improvements in children and adolescents [9], adults [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] and vulnerable cohorts including disaffected youth [10], adults living with dementia [11] and those experiencing physical and/or mental ill-health such as post-traumatic stress disorders [12]. Wellbeing is important to health because it increases life expectancy, improves recovery from illness [13,14] and is associated with positive health behaviours.…”

Social Farming: An Inclusive Environment Conducive to Participant Personal Growth

“…Other studies have also found that social farming can provide care to elderly people with mild or severe signs of dementia (De Bruin et al 2009;De Bruin et al 2012;Schols and van der Schriek-van Meel 2006). At the same time these studies have observed a positive level of appreciation from the participants regarding their personal relationships with farmers, the informal-not clinical-context of the activities, and the opportunity to perform a variety of useful activities (De Bruin et al 2015;Hassink et al 2010). In a study by De Boer et al (2016), dementia patients on a social farm were found to be more likely to participate in outdoor activities and green exercise and to engage more in social interactions than those in nursing homes.…”