Participatory Action Research on the Impact of Community Gardening in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating the Seeding Plan in Shanghai, China

Abstract

This study aims to examine the impacts of community gardening on the daily life of residents and the management organisation of pandemic prevention in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major public health scourge in 2020. The research team applied a participatory action research approach to work with residents to design and implement the Seeding Plan, a contactless community gardening program. The authors carried out a study to compare the everyday conditions reflecting residents’ mental health of the three subject groups during the pandemic: the participants of the Seeding Plan (Group A), the non-participants living in the same communities that had implemented the Seeding Plan (Group B), and the non-participants in other communities (Group C). According to the results, group A showed the best mental health among the three; Group B, positively influenced by seeding activities, was better than Group C. The interview results also confirmed that the community connections established through gardening activities have a significant impact on maintaining a positive social mentality under extraordinary circumstances. From this, the study concluded that gardening activities can improve people’s mental health, effectively resist negative impacts, and it is a convenient tool with spreading influence on the entire community, so as to support the collective response to public health emergencies in a bottom-up direction by the community.

The Relationship between Social Mentality and Health in Promoting Well-Being and Sustainable City

“…In terms of research methods, the studies in the WOS core collection database mainly employ questionnaires [ 4 , 34 , 169 , 171 ] to investigate social mentality to aid health, followed by scales [ 168 , 172 ] and participatory action research methods [ 170 ]. Santos et al [ 168 ] use scales on the basis of comparative study, while Kou et al’s [ 170 ] study on gardening and mental health adopts a participatory action research method.…”

“…In terms of research methods, the studies in the WOS core collection database mainly employ questionnaires [ 4 , 34 , 169 , 171 ] to investigate social mentality to aid health, followed by scales [ 168 , 172 ] and participatory action research methods [ 170 ]. Santos et al [ 168 ] use scales on the basis of comparative study, while Kou et al’s [ 170 ] study on gardening and mental health adopts a participatory action research method. As shown in Table 5 , the studies on health and social mentality are the current research hotspots, which first appeared in the year 2015, and the remaining six studies were all published in the three recent years (2020 to 2022).…”

“…For the construction of a healthy social mentality, Xi et al [ 169 ] believe that social support and external assistance, as well as positive interpersonal interaction experiences, are crucial to the cultivation of personal peace of mind and the improvement of happiness in the workplace. In addition, Kou et al [ 170 ] believe that community gardening is an important approach to improve people’s mental health in the context of COVID-19. The above studies indicate that social mentality and health, especially mental health, in the context of COVID-19 are important and worth-exploring areas, in which some studies looked at occupational mental health [ 172 ], particularly within the caregiver profession [ 168 ].…”

“…Interestingly, some works of art are created in social relationships and activities, which is a process of constantly creating and maintaining relationships with others [ 186 ]. As such, the social nature of this kind of art can be further explored in the context of the definition of social mentality, such as the idea of community gardening as a public health strategy [ 170 ]. In addition, art therapy has the function of curing some patients’ physical and psychological diseases [ 187 ].…”

El impacto sobre la salud colectiva de las conductas censurables en la investigación sanitaria

“…La determinación social es un concepto clave en el movimiento de la salud colectiva (latinoamericano), subyace a perfil determinado. Sin embargo, la salud colectiva es una de las periferias que presenta necesidades únicas en cuanto a la participación, investigación y políticas inclusivas para la promoción descolonial de estilos de vida saludables [10].…”