Abstract: Issue Addressed: In addition to food, physical activity, mental health and environmental benefits, community gardens (CGs) provide opportunities for social inclusion and increased social capital. These are particularly important to the socially isolated residents of social housing developments (SHDs). This scoping study explored the feasibility of a CG program for tenants of SHD in inner eastern Melbourne by assessing their interest in, and requirements for, inclusively designed CGs.
Methods: In this phenomenological enquiry, focus group discussions, supported by photo-elicitation, were employed. Three focus groups (N = 19) were conducted with self-selected participants who consented to participate. Two focus groups were conducted with English-speaking tenants while a third focus group was conducted with Mandarin-speaking tenants.
Results: There was a demand for CGs by the English-speaking participants driven by desire for networking, social connectedness and inclusion; for improved access to fresh produce, connection with nature, physical activity and mental well-being. Participants expressed interest in a garden located near their SHD with supportive physical and social environments including disability access, plot autonomy, fencing, socio-cultural events, training programs and management opportunities. However, the Mandarin-speaking tenants maintained that age, language difficulty and neighbourhood insecurity posed significant barriers to their participation.
Conclusion: Guided by the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, social inclusion and community development theories, the study recommends that to establish socially inclusive CGs, a dynamic relationship of the design principles of a CG and the socio-ecological determinants of health should be established to address any barriers and successfully facilitate engagement. In addition, CG programs need to be guided by community development principles. Future research could employ community-based participatory research models in the implementation and evaluation of a CG program for socially isolated population groups.
(© 2018 Australian Health Promotion Association.)
References: Zanko A, Hill JL, Estabrooks PA, Niewolny KL, Zoellner J. Evaluating community gardens in a health disparate region: a qualitative case study approach. J Hunger Environ Nutr. 2014;9(2):137-69.
Hale J, Knapp C, Bardwell L, et al. Connecting food environments and health through the relational nature of aesthetics: gaining insight through the community gardening experience. Soc Sci Med. 2011;72(11):1853-63.
Castro DC, Samuels M, Harman AE. Growing healthy kids. Am J Prev Med. 2013;44(3):S193-9.
Grabbe L, Ball J, Goldstein A. Gardening for the mental well-being of homeless women. J Holist Nurs. 2013;31(4):258-66.
Litt JS, Soobader MJ, Turbin MS, Hale JW, Buchenau M, Marshall JA. The influence of social involvement, neighborhood aesthetics, and community garden participation on fruit and vegetable consumption. Am J Public Health. 2011;101(8):1466-73.
Zick CD, Smith KR, Kowaleski-Jones L, Uno C, Merrill BJ. Harvesting more than vegetables: the potential weight control benefits of community gardening. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(6):1110-15.
Siewell N, Aguirre S, Thomas M. Building sustainable neighbourhoods through community gardens: enhancing residents’ well-being through university-community engagement initiative. Metropolitan Universities. 2015 [cited 2017 Jul 20];26(1):173-90. Available from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1092961.pdf.
Coleman JS. Social capital in the creation of human capital. Am J Sociol. 1988;94:S95-120. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2780243.
Wang D, Glicksman A. “Being Grounded”: benefits of gardening for older adults in low-income housing. J Hous Elderly. 2013;27(1-2):89-104.
Okvat HA, Zautra AJ. Community gardening: a parsimonious path to individual, community, and environmental resilience. Am J Community Psychol. 2011;47(3-4):374-87.
Crossney KB, Shellenberger E. Urban food access and the potential of community gardens. Middle States Geogr. 2012 [cited 2016 Jul 18];44:74. Available from: http://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/geog_facpub/18.
Twiss J, Dickinson J, Duma S, Kleinman T, Paulsen H, Rilveria L. Community gardens: lessons learned from California healthy cities and communities. Am J Public Health. 2003;93(9):1435-8.
Cummings D, Rowe F, Harris N, Somerset S. Quality of life and community gardens: African refugees and the Griffith University Community Food Garden. In Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA), editor. Proceedings of Population Health Congress. Brisbane, Australia: Public Health Association Australia, 2008; p. 6-9.
Barnett G, Doherty M, Beaty M. Urban greenspace: connecting people and nature. Environment. 2005 [cited 2016 Jul 18];13(1). Available from: https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/81376/environmental-city-13-barnett.pdf.
Amel E, Manning C, Scott B, Koger S. Beyond the roots of human inaction: fostering collective effort toward ecosystem conservation. Science. 2017;356(6335):275-9.
Singh-Manoux A, Ferrie JE, Chandola T, Marmot M. Socioeconomic trajectories across the life course and health outcomes in midlife: evidence for the accumulation hypothesis? Int J Epidemiol. 2004;33(5):1072-9.
Berry H, Butterworth P, Caldwell T, Rodgers B. Contemporary Australian archetypes: different people, different needs. Social Policy Research Paper No. 32, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs; 2008. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1728563.
Silver H. The contexts of social inclusion. Department of Economic & Social Affairs, DESA Working Paper No. 144; 2015. Available from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2641272 (cited 2017 Aug 8).
Warr DJ, Mann R, Kelaher M. ‘A lot of the things we do… people wouldnt recognise as health promotion’: addressing health inequalities in settings of neighbourhood disadvantage. Crit Public Health. 2013;23(1):95-109.
Morgan LM. Community participation in health: perpetual allure, persistent challenge. Health Policy Plan. 2001;16(3):221-30.
Vagle MD. Crafting phenomenological research. New York, NY: Routledge; 2016. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/deakin/detail.action?docID=5351931.
Stewart DW, Shamdasani PN, Rook DW. Applied social research methods series: Vol. 20. In Focus groups: Theory and practice. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.; 2007.
Doody O, Slevin E, Taggart L. Focus group interviews in nursing research: part 1. Br J Nurs. 2013;22(1):16-9. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2013.22.1.16.
Seymour E, Hunter AB, Laursen SL, DeAntoni T. Establishing the benefits of research experiences for undergraduates in the sciences: first findings from a three-year study. Sci Educ. 2004;88(4):493-534. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.10131.
Ramalho JD, Lachal J, Bucher-Maluschke JS, Moro MR, Revah-Levy A. A qualitative study of the role of food in family relationships: an insight into the families of Brazilian obese adolescents using photo elicitation. Appetite. 2016;96:539-45.
Burton A, Hughes M, Dempsey RC. Quality of life research: a case for combining photo-elicitation with interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qual Res Psychol. 2017;14(4):375-93.
Van Auken PM, Frisvoll SJ, Stewart SI. Visualising community: using participant-driven photo-elicitation for research and application. Local Environ. 2010;15(4):373-88.
Creswell JW, Poth CN. Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications; 2018.
Cohen DJ, Crabtree BF. Evaluative criteria for qualitative research in health care: controversies and recommendations. Ann Fam Med. 2008;6(4):331-9.
Sulaiman-Hill C, Thompson SC. Selecting instruments for assessing psychological wellbeing in Afghan and Kurdish refugee groups. BMC Res Notes. 2010;3(237):1-9.
Firth C, Maye D, Pearson D. Developing, “community” in community gardens. Local Environ. 2011;16(6):555-68.
Grier K, Hill JL, Reese F, et al. Feasibility of an experiential community garden and nutrition programme for youth living in public housing. Public Health Nutr. 2015;18(15):2759-69.
World Health Organization. Ottawa charter for health promotion. Health Promot. 1986;1:iii-v. Available from: https://www.healthpromotion.org.au/images/ottawa_charter_hp.pdf.
Grinde B, Patil GG. Biophilia: does visual contact with nature impact on health and well-being? Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2009;6(9):2332-43.
Townsend M, Weerasuriya R. Beyond blue to green: The benefits of contact with nature for mental health and well-being. Melbourne, Australia: Beyond Blue Limited; 2010 [cited 2017 Aug 10]. Available from: https://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/310747/Beyond-Blue-To-Green-Literature-Review.pdf.
Muirhead S. Exploring embodied and emotional experiences within the landscapes of environmental volunteering. In: Atkinson S, Fuller S, Painter J, editors. Wellbeing and place. Oxon: Routledge, 2016.
Robson JP, Troutman-Jordan ML. Back to basics: health and wellness benefits of gardening in older adults. Act Adapt Aging. 2015;39(4):291-306.
Middling S, Bailey J, Maslin-Prothero S, Scharf T. Gardening and the social engagement of older people. Work Older People. 2011;15(3):112-22.
Ife J. Community development in an uncertain world. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press; 2013.
Patrick R, Capetola T. It')s here! Are we ready? Five case studies of health promotion practices that address climate change from within Victorian health care settings. Health Promot J Austr. 2011;22(4):61-7.
Middle I, Dzidic P, Buckley A, Bennett D, Tye M, Jones R. Integrating community gardens into public parks: an innovative approach for providing ecosystem services in urban areas. Urban For Urban Green. 2014;13(4):638-45.
_0.png)
Processing Request
No Comments.