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The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of a short-term nature-based intervention on the social-emotional well-being of women incarcerated on a mental health unit in a state prison.

This research used a mixed method approach with individual interviews, a focus group and a visual analog scale (VAS).

Qualitative results found that women appreciated the planting party and the way the plants improved the physical environment. Women were also emotionally and relationally impacted by their participation and practiced skills related to planting and working with people. Quantitative results indicate that women were happier, calmer, and more peaceful after the intervention than before.

Study limitations include sample size, self-report data and use of a scale not yet tested for reliability and validity.

Findings suggest that nature-based interventions can serve as an adjunct to traditional mental health therapies in correctional settings. Nature-based interventions can support women’s goals to improve their mental health.

Findings suggest that nature-based interventions can serve to improve relationships among incarcerated women, which may make a positive impact on the prison community. Such interventions may also assist them in developing relational and technical skills that are useful upon release.

To date, there is limited knowledge about the impact of nature-based interventions on incarcerated individuals coping with mental health concerns.

This practice piece aims to review an occupational therapy led pilot programme – social farming as an intervention option in an adult community mental health setting in Ireland. It will also reflect on the practical implications of delivering the natural surroundings based programme through the COVID-19 pandemic and plans for the future development of such programmes in adult mental health services.

The Occupational Circumstances Assessment Interview Rating Scale (OCAIRS) was used to measure occupational participation (Forsyth, 2005). This was administered with participants’ pre and post their participation in the 10-week programme. An internal questionnaire was developed to further capture both the participant and farmer experiences of the social farming programme.

Whilst improvements were noted in a number of OCAIRS domains, it was difficult to identify small changes over a short period of time. The main domains of change were habits, roles, interests and personal causation. The success of the social farming placements was also reflected in the internal questionnaire. The pilot programme has resulted in the further development of the social farming programme and securing of funding for placements for five years.

It would be beneficial to consider other standardised assessments that assess quality of life and occupation for future placements. It is also beneficial to consider practical implications in delivering a social farming programme, particularly to those with barriers to transport. It is hoped this paper will contribute to the growing knowledge of social farming as a meaningful therapeutic intervention in mental health occupational therapy practice.

Green care – the utilisation of farms as the basis for health services – is seen as a promising addition to other health services, and it is seen as a viable diversification strategy for many farm families. However, the number of such services is low both in Norway and in Europe in general. The development of green care seems to have stagnated. This paper seeks to analyze and discuss the case of Norwegian green care in order to reflect on the hindrances to the further development of a viable green care sector.

The paper analyzes the green care market, green care policies and the interaction of social worlds that are necessary to make the green care sector function smoothly.

The conclusion is that there is a sound basis for a green care market and that there are sufficient political support and political engagement for the development of green care in Norway. The problem with the green care sector is the interaction between the “social worlds” involved in the sector – the suppliers/farmers, the users, and the (public sector) buyers. It is argued that the development of a green care market is hampered by the lack of an institutional framework and a set of market devices capable of bringing key actors together.

The paper presents an analysis of the Norwegian green care sector. It shows that there are substantial cross‐national differences between health service systems, and therefore comparisons between nations are difficult. However, the principal challenges – diverse social groups, the lack of institutional frames, and immature markets – are shared. Therefore, the need for further research is evident and there are lessons to be learned from cross‐national comparison and case studies.

Within the green care research field, there have been few social science studies that address organisational issues and the governance of this new and emerging business. Theoretically oriented and analytical contributions on organisational aspects of green care services are therefore timely. This paper is such a contribution.

Participation in urban horticulture (UH) is increasing in popularity, and evidence is emerging about the wide range of social and environmental benefits “grow your own” can also provide. UH can increase mental and physical well-being, as well as improve nature connectedness, social capital and community cohesion.

This study focusses on allotments, which is one of the dominant forms of UH that takes place in the United Kingdom. 163 volunteers in England and Wales participated in keeping a year-long allotment diary as part of a citizen science project investigating activities on allotment gardens. This study examines the unprompted comments that 96 of these gardeners offered as observations when visiting their allotment plots.

Participants recorded high levels of social and community activities including the sharing of surplus food produce, knowledge exchange, awareness and interaction with wildlife, emotional connection to their allotment, appreciation of time spent outside and aesthetic delight in the natural world around them.

At a time when waiting lists for allotment plots in the United Kingdom are on the rise, and allotment land is subject to multiple pressures from other forms of development, this study demonstrates that these spaces are important sites not only for food production but also health, social capital and environmental engagement.

Diagnosis of substance use disorders and addictive behaviours are growing worldwide. It is timely to examine and collate literature on the nature of occupational therapy intervention in this field, to increase understanding of current practice and inform future directions. The purpose of this paper is to source and synthesise literature on occupational therapy interventions used in the treatment of people experiencing addiction.

Four databases were searched in August 2019. A total of 597 titles were screened, and 18 studies with varying methods met inclusion criteria. A narrative synthesis of the included literature was arranged into themes to summarise key findings.

Findings were grouped into three themes about occupational therapy provision to people experiencing addiction: single occupation focused intervention; skills training (including sub-themes on daily living skills and vocational skills); and establishing a community-based sober routine.

Further research on this topic should focus on efficacy of treatments and build on current findings to develop more rigorous research with appropriate sample sizes to support evidence-based practice.

This study presents a synthesis of how occupational therapy interventions have been used to treat people experiencing addiction issues. Findings indicate occupational therapy appears to fit well within addiction treatment and assert that occupational therapy is most supportive when interventions go beyond the teaching of skills alone to prioritise occupational engagement and client centred practice.

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of an eight-week gardening and woodwork group programme on individuals’ recovery goals in an adult community mental health setting.

Seven individuals participated in the research. The programme was designed and facilitated by two occupational therapists (the authors) and one horticulture and trade skills facilitator. The goal attainment scale was used as a quantitative outcome measure as it allowed individuals to collaboratively set occupation-focused recovery-oriented goals. Due to the small sample size, descriptive statistics were used to analyse this data. Qualitative feedback was gathered through participant feedback forms when the programme ended.

Quantitative findings indicate positive results for individuals’ progression towards their recovery goals, with six out of seven participants either achieving or exceeding their goals. One person who attended only one out of eight groups had “worse than expected” goal achievement.

While there is evidence for the use of gardening and woodwork group therapy in mental health settings, most studies have relied on symptom-focused questionnaires or qualitative results rather than quantifiable recovery-oriented measures (Cipriani et al., 2017; Kamioka et al., 2014; Parkinson et al., 2011). It is hoped that this paper begins to bridge that gap and also outlines how recovery principles, gardening and woodwork can be incorporated into occupational therapy group programmes. This is of particular merit during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a greater need for group intervention in outdoor settings, where social distancing can be comfortably facilitated.

Cherry Tree Nursery came about because users of mental health services in East Dorset wanted meaningful occupation which would enhance the quality of their lives. Many of us find gardening therapeutic and this project not only gives joy to its volunteers, but also contributes to the gardens (and mental health) of its thousands of gardening, plant‐buying customers in the Bournemouth area.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a sector-based analysis of the drivers for social entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector.

The paper uses qualitative data from two studies in the Danish region of Northern Jutland. The data include responses from 38 farmers who offered or had considered offering social services. The analytical framework is taken from a review of the limited literature on Green Care and Social Farming and social entrepreneurship theory.

Strong and consistent tools for the categorisation of farmers’ social entrepreneurship have been developed. However, these tools have merely been used descriptively rather than to create proactive agriculture policies to facilitate social entrepreneurship. In Region Northern Jutland social entrepreneurship in farming is driven by a combination of tradition, close relationships and coincidence. It is ad hoc, with each initiative starting from scratch because no knowledge or experience has been gathered or distributed.

The agricultural sector-based approach to social entrepreneurship will not be discussed against other approaches to social entrepreneurship. This would be a suggestion for another more conceptual kind of article in the future.

A study of social entrepreneurship among farmers has not yet been coupled with a sector-based analytical framework. This paper contributes to the literature of social entrepreneurship by supplementing with an agricultural sector-based approach.

Metaphorically, the garden invokes a repertoire of skills, arts, and virtues that run counter to the act of confinement but are embedded in its disciplinary practice: spaces in punitive environments where care, growth, health, and cultivation are emphasized. Gardens and the force of law and labor are foregrounded in Judeo-Christian myths, in slavery, and in prison farms as spaces of expulsion and brutality. Yet as abandoned, fortress-style prisons dilapidate, and vines and weeds break through concrete, we can begin to ask, What might it mean to imagine the prison through the lens of the garden?

Participation by patients, staff and visitors in healthcare design and planning offers multiple benefits in addressing the complex challenges of creating salutary environments for hospital patients, staff and visitors. The purpose of this paper is to present the benefits of participatory design and design imperatives to facilities architects and landscape architects.

The paper describes three case studies in which participatory methods were used to engage users in decision making over 15 years and creates a framework using “design imperatives” that has been successful in the design of outdoor settings.

Nine design imperatives can be used to design facilities that achieve a range of therapeutic benefits for patients, staff and visitors.

The research limitations of this paper are those of using case studies in general. The implications suggest that papers such as this can be used in future hypothesis‐driven research.

Designers do not have the luxury or ability to base myriad design decisions on experimental research findings, as almost all design is unique and a hypothesis waiting to be tested. The result is that guiding principles, or design imperatives based on participatory methods, can form the basis for design decision making.

The social implications are that some form of participatory decision making in facilities design has benefits to multiple constituencies, specifically, patients, staff and visitors.

Although this paper refers to many existing studies and places the results and conclusions within a context that is supported by the literature, much of the value is because the results are based on practice. More than a dozen projects form the basis for concluding that general principles of design, person‐environment interactions and participatory methods lead to desirable and beneficial outcomes.