Abstract
Gardening has long been a popular pastime. There is a growing evidence base for the health and well-being benefits of gardening. Community gardening brings a social aspect to gardening, thereby increasing the potential benefits to include addressing social inclusion and poor community health through sharing of values, support of others, and building networks. This systematic review protocol aims to determine the characteristics of community gardening that could lead to beneficial outcomes such as connection with the community and development of new skills. Thirteen academic databases will be searched for studies looking at the benefits of community gardening, with a focus on vulnerable populations. Data will be extracted from all studies meeting the inclusion criteria and summarized to provide an overview of the current literature. This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive investigation into community gardening, its benefits, and how they are achieved for the target population. By gathering and synthesizing this information, the review should allow policy makers and practitioners to work more effectively to address health and social inequities, by highlighting areas of need and enabling optimization of future interventions.
Highlights
Gardening has been a popular pastime globally throughout time and is one of the most commonly accessible ways of experiencing nature [1]
This systematic review will be conducted in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic
The search will be limited to literature published between 1985 and 2020. This period has been selected so as to capture relevant articles published since the development of the Botanic Gardens
Summary
Gardening has been a popular pastime globally throughout time and is one of the most commonly accessible ways of experiencing nature [1]. The evidence base for the health and well-being benefits of gardening is rapidly growing with studies showing that community gardening is associated with improvements in symptoms of mental health conditions such as depression and stress [2,3], and in encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviors such as increased fruit and vegetable intake which reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease [4,5,6]. Gardening has been shown to be beneficial to specific populations, such as older adults in terms of overall health, quality of life, improved cognitive ability, and social benefits [7]. Popularized at times of food shortages during significant events such as the Great Depression and the World Wars, community gardening is viewed as a more. Public Health 2020, 17, 2029; doi:10.3390/ijerph17062029 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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