COMMUNITY GARDENING IN A SENIOR CENTER: A Public Health Initiative

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COMMUNITY GARDENING IN A SENIOR CENTERA Public
Health Initiative

• Nikki Austin, MS, RN
• Decker School of Nursing
• Binghamton University
• austin_at_binghamton.edu

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Northern Broome Senior CenterWhitney Point, NY
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• Broome County Health Department (BCHD)
  Mary McFadden mmcfadden_at_co.broome.ny.us
• Northern Broome Senior Center (NBSC)
• Site Supervisor Leslie Hiemstra

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Decker School of NursingBinghamton
UniversityThesis Committee

• Lindsay Lake Morgan, PhD, RN, GNP Chair
• Joyce Ferrario, PhD, RN
• Yvonne A. M. Johnston, MS, RN, FNP

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Problems in New York (BRFSS)

• Women less likely to be physically active than
  men.
• Most adults do not get regular exercise.
• NY had a 42 increase in the prevalence of
  overweight adults between 1987 1996.
• People tend to gain weight as they age.

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Gardening

• Moderate level of physical activity.
• Requires walking, bending, stretching, lifting.
• Produces fresh vegetables.
• Community gardening involves other people.
• This activity involved a dedicated group.

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Community Garden Timeline

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Study Purposes

• Describe the initiation of the first community
  garden sponsored by the BCHD at the NBSC.
• Describe the effects of the garden on
  participants levels of functional capacity,
  physical activity, and depression.
• Describe participants opinions, concerns, hopes
  and suggestions for future gardening activities.

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Research Design

• Between-method triangulation study
• (Streubert Carpenter, 1999)
• Part One Quantitative Analysis
• One-group, pre-test, post-test
• Participants selected one health-related goal for
  attainment from the COOP Charts results.
• Part Two Qualitative Analysis
• Focus group discussion

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Research Question One

• What is the relationship between gardening and
  the levels of functional capacity in senior
  citizens?
• Assessment
• Dartmouth Coop Functional Assessment Tool (COOP
  Charts)
• Six Minute Walk Distance Test (6MWD)

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Research Question Two

• What is the relationship between gardening and
  the levels of depression in senior citizens?
• Assessment
• Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS)
• Total Emotional Score (TES), COOP Charts

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Research Question Three

• What is the relationship between gardening and
  the levels of physical activity in senior
  citizens.
• Assessment
• Six-Minute Walk Distance Test (6MWD)
• Physical Fitness Score, COOP Charts

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Instrumentation

• COOP Charts (Nelson, Landgraf, Hays, Wasson, and
  Kirk, 1990)
• Ordinal, self-reported data in areas of Physical
  Activity, Daily Activities, Pain, Overall Health,
  Change in Health, Feelings, Social Support,
  Social Activities, and Quality of Life
• Total Emotional Score (TES) was calculated from
  the Feelings, Social Support, Social Activities,
  and Quality of Life Scores in order to correlate
  with the GDS.
• GDS (Yesavage, 1992)
• 15-item questionnaire with yes/no questions
• 6MWD (Described by Enright, 2003)
• Self-paced measure of fitness

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Kings Theory of Goal Attainment
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(No Transcript)
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Descriptive Analysis

• Part One Quantitative
• 10 persons participated in the garden
• 8 gardeners enrolled in the study
• 6 completed the study
• Ages ranged from 57-78
• (M 68.17, SD 8.035)
• 6 gardeners chose to improve Physical Fitness
• 2 gardeners chose to improve Feelings

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Dartmouth COOP Charts
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Inferential Statistics

• Statistically significant Wilcoxon tests
• Social Activities (p .046)
• Total Emotional Score (p .042)
• Test results indicated an improvement in
  function, as expected.

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Individual Results

• 66 met their COOP Chart goal.
• 75 of those who said they did not improve on the
  Physical Fitness Score actually improved their
  6MWD.
• All participants improved in one or more areas.

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Qualitative Descriptive Analysis

• Focus Group Discussion one hour
• Open to anyone at the NBSC
• Held in NBSC meeting room
• Led by the study principal investigator
• n 8, females (n-6) 75
• Sample included gardeners and one staff person
• Ages ranged from 56-78 (M68.87, SD 7.61)

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Quotes

• share ideas
• We get to know each other.
• We take care of each others gardens.
• So many people helped me.
• People gave me seeds.
• It got us to think more about the food we eat.
• It got me into this walking thing.
• I bend over more, more stretching.

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Other Responses

• Grow my own food
• Learn new skills, learn things Id forgotten
• Be in a convenient location
• People from the community came to see the garden
• Started a home garden
• Need help with difficult tasks (shoveling dirt)
• Need local administrative leadership
• The group began to plan for 2005

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NBSC Senior Garden Club2005 Bigger and Better
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Flowers and Rhubarb Spruce up the NBSC!
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Positive Outcomes from Gardening

• ? Social Activities
• ? Emotional Scores
• ? Physical Fitness
• Creation of community around the garden club.
• Sustainable garden