Abstract
Care farming (also called social farming) is the therapeutic use of agricultural and farming practices. Service users and communities supported through care farming include people with learning disabilities, mental and physical health problems, substance misuse, adult offenders, disaffected youth, socially isolated older people and the long term unemployed. Care farming is growing in popularity, especially around Europe. This review aimed to understand the impact of care farming on quality of life, depression and anxiety, on a range of service user groups. It also aimed to explore and explain the way in which care farming might work for different groups. By reviewing interview studies we found that people valued, among other things, being in contact with each other, and feeling a sense of achievement, fulfilment and belonging. Some groups seemed to appreciate different things indicating that different groups may benefit in different ways but, it is unclear if this is due to a difference in the types of activities or the way in which people take different things from the same activity. We found no evidence that care farms improved people's quality of life and some evidence that they might improve depression and anxiety. Larger studies involving single service user groups and fully validated outcome measures are needed to prove more conclusive evidence about the benefits of care farming.
Highlights
Care farming is the therapeutic use of agricultural and farming practices
There is a lack of evidence to determine whether or not care farming is effective in improving quality of life, depression and anxiety
Despite the current lack of robust evidence to support the effectiveness of care farming, there are strong arguments to support a more integrated approach to care farming as a viable alternative or adjunct to mainstream approaches for mental health problems
Summary
Care farming ( called social farming) is the therapeutic use of agricultural and farming practices. Service users and communities supported through care farming include people with learning disabilities, people with mental and physical health problems, people with substance misuse problems, adult offenders, disaffected youth, socially isolated older people and the long‐term unemployed. Care farming is a highly complex intervention that can involve different farming activities (horticulture, forestry or livestock farming) or other activities (gardening, conservation or woodwork), with different levels of support provided according to the needs of the individual service users. As an urban farm it aimsa to provide educational, recreational and therapeutic activities that: (a) support disadvantaged and disabled people to boost their confidence and aspirations; (b) promote emotional, mental, social and physical well‐being; (c) develop environmental awareness and action; (d) strengthen community cohesion; (e) create enjoyment for members of the public. They could choose to spend their time in physical contact with the animals
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