The Meaning of Growing Plants: Contributions to the Elderly Living in Sheltered Housing

In this qualitative research conducted in Finland, 12 residents in sheltered housing for aged people were interviewed to explore the meanings they associate with the growing of plants. Growing plants had both individual and social meanings for the interviewees. The individual meanings were categorized into three groups: one’s own growing skills, the continuity of time, and creating experiences. The category “one’s own growing skills” was coded into three subcategories: individual settings and growing methods, interpretation of the plants’ needs and responses, and adaptation to current situation. The social meanings identified in the data were also divided into three categories: significant acts undertaken for other people, indications about the gardener, and the feeling of togetherness. The results of the research suggest that growing plants may have an effect on the wellbeing of the elderly who have a rural background and are living in institutional settings, especially for those aspects threatened by institutional environments: autonomy, a sense of control, identity, and the opportunity to form social relationships. G ardening has long been one of the most common spare-time activities among elderly people (Hill and Relf, 1982; Sarola, 1994). However, in modern institutional care-facilities for the elderly, the residents’ opportunities for continuing their hobbies are limited. This raises the question of whether or not growing plants could contribute to the well-being of the elderly living in institutional settings. Health facilities have customarily been designed to be effective careenvironments, but these environments are also often psychologically stressful (Ulrich, 1991). The design of the grounds is usually highly institutional, which can aggravate the residents’ problems of isolation, loneliness, and loss of capability and identity (Stoneham and Thoday, 1996). Moreover, conflicts between the residents’ autonomy and security are particularly prominent in homes for the elderly (Paivarinta, 1997). The life of the elderly in long-term care is often thus marked by loneliness, social isolation and by the feelings of worthlessness (Noro, 1998). According to Grahn (1991), an elderly person in institutional care may often adopt a passive role as a dependent. The abilities of the elderly become impaired, when the environment accepts them as decrepit instead of supporting their identity. Furthermore, the emphasis placed on diseases in health care work strengthens this role of decrepitude in the elderly (Liukkonen, 1995; Stein, 1997). Does gardening have qualities which could affect positively the institutional environments of elderly people? Gardening, when regarded as interaction between people and plants, includes both physical and psychological activities. The main content of gardening is the fostering of a living thing (Browne, 1992; Lewis, 1992, 1996; Matsuo, 1995). Horticultural activity enables individual creativity, social interaction (Browne, 1992) and the reciprocal exchange relationships with other people (Lewis, 1996; Stein, 1997). Stein (1997) states that by gardening, residents in a nursing home may create new memories and meanings for their lives. Plants may also trigger pleasant memories from the past (Browne, 1992; Lewis, 1996). Gardening may also increase opportunities for independent choice (Stein 1997). Ulrich (1991) suggests that to promote wellness, the environment in healthcare facilities should foster a sense of control, access to social support and access to positive distractions. In addition, plants give the elderly a hope for the future (Gaskins and Forte, 1995; Lewis, 1996). The change, which appears in the growth of the plants, can be experienced as something favorable, not threatening like the change in health of the elderly (Lewis, 1996). To assess whether growing plants contributes to the well-being of elderly living in institutions, we examined whether the growing of plants has meanings for the elderly that can be associated with their well-being. It is widely accepted that nature and plants contribute to human well-being (Relf, 1992). The effects of this positive benefit are often studied by measuring blood pressure and pulse and by using other tests (e.g., Hartig et al., 1991; Ulrich et al., 1991; Lohr et al., 1996; Ottosson and Grahn, 1998). However, these methods cannot reveal all the aspects of how the experience of growing plants affects human wellbeing. This study, therefore, applies a qualitative approach to clarify how elderly people themselves experience plants and nurture of plants in an institutional environment of sheltered housing. Rowles (1984) has defined the concept of environmental experience as “physical, cognitive, and emotional transactions with the physical setting”. In this study, the experience of growing plants is defined analogous to Rowles’ (1984) definition as a physical, cognitive, and emotional interaction of the elderly with plants. The interaction of the elderly with plants means either the actual growing or the mental activity involved in nurturing a plant. The question of whether or not the meanings the elderly give for growing plants can be associated with the well-being of residents is explored in this study. Especially those aspects of human well-being threatened in institutional environments, such as autonomy, identity, and social relationships are emphasized in the present analysis.