End-of-Life care in a community garden: Findings from a Participatory Action Research project in regional Australia.
This article presents findings from research that explored how a community garden might function as a place of end-of-life and bereavement support. Adopting Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods, and informed by Third Place theory and notions of therapeutic landscape, creative consultations were held in the Garden and people's homes. The findings provide insights into the nature of informal care as it is played out in the liminal garden space, between home and institution. The results illuminate the therapeutic landscape of community gardens, and contribute new understandings to the fields of PAR, health geography and end-of-life care.
Centre for Rural Health, Locked Bag 103, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia. Electronic address: Pauline.Marsh@utas.edu.au.
Pauline
P
Marsh
Okines Community Garden, 510 Old Forcett Road, Dodges Ferry, Tasmania 7173, Australia.
Gabrielle
G
Gartrell
Okines Community Garden, 510 Old Forcett Road, Dodges Ferry, Tasmania 7173, Australia.
Gwen
G
Egg
Okines Community Garden, 510 Old Forcett Road, Dodges Ferry, Tasmania 7173, Australia.
Andrew
A
Nolan
Centre for Rural Health, Locked Bag 1372, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia. Electronic address: Merylin.Cross@utas.edu.au.
Merylin
M
Cross
D001315:Australia; D001601:Bereavement; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000379:methods*; D017144:Focus Groups; D000072506:Gardens; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011788:Quality of Life; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*
Community gardens; End of life; PAR; Palliative care; Therapeutic landscape; Third Place