title: Amplifying Health Through Community Gardens: A Framework for Advancing Multicomponent, Behaviorally Based Neighborhood Interventions.
abstract: The article presents a framework for understanding the relationship between community garden participation, and the myriad ways gardens and participation lead to emotional, social, and health impacts. Existing empirical research relating community gardens to health behaviors, such as physical activity and diet, and longer-term chronic disease-related outcomes is summarized. The research areas discussed include the effects of community garden participation on individual, social, emotional, and environmental processes; health behaviors including diet and physical activity; and health outcomes such as self-rated health, obesity, and mental health. Other mechanisms through which community gardens may affect population health are described. Applying a multitheoretical lens to explore associations between community garden participation and health enables us to delineate key aspects of gardening that elicit positive health behaviors and multifactorial health assets that could be applied to designing other types of health interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, G. Malcolm Trout Building, Room 208C, 469 Wilson Road, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alaimo
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, G. Malcolm Trout Building, Room 208C, 469 Wilson Road, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
authors.forename: Alyssa W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Beavers
authors.affiliation: , 936 Huntington Road, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, DPL 405, Anchorage, AK, 99508-4614, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth Hodges
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado Boulder, 4001 Discovery Drive, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA. jill.litt@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Jill S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Litt
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy; D003256:Community Participation; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D051639:Gardening / Q000379:methods; D000072506:Gardens; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D014504:Urban Health
keywords: Community gardens; Diet; Gardening; Health; Neighborhood; Physical activity