The impact of care farms on quality of life, depression and anxiety among different population groups: A systematic review
Murray J., Wickramasekera N., Elings M., Bragg R., Brennan C., Elsey H.
Campbell Systematic Reviews, 15(4):e1061
Urban Farm DB summary
A systematic review assessing how care farming (social farming) affects quality of life, depression and anxiety across different service-user groups. It finds that agriculture-based welfare support may improve mental health and social interaction, while highlighting the need for more robust evidence.
Key points
- 1Care farming therapeutically utilizes agriculture for diverse vulnerable populations, including those with learning disabilities, mental/physical health issues, substance misuse, older adults, and the unemployed.
- 2Participants in care farming highly value social contact, a sense of achievement, fulfilment, and belonging.
- 3This review found no clear evidence that care farms improve people's quality of life (QoL).
- 4Conversely, some evidence was identified suggesting that care farms might improve depression and anxiety.
- 5More conclusive evidence regarding the specific benefits of care farming requires larger, more rigorous studies focusing on single service user groups and using fully validated outcome measures.
Extracted facts
2 factsOnly numbers and their conditions are stored, as structured data — never the source's own sentences. Metric and condition names stay in English, as coded.
- no evidence of improvement→ No change
quality of life(care farm)
Health- study design
- systematic review
- setting
- care farms
- region
- mainly Europe
- population
- mixed service user groups
- some evidence of improvement
depression and anxiety(care farm)
Health- study design
- systematic review
- setting
- care farms
- region
- mainly Europe
- population
- mixed service user groups
Direction of conclusions
Each author conclusion is recorded only as a coded direction per topic. Read the original for the conclusion itself.
- Mental healthMixedWith caveats
Abstract and stored text
OpenAlexCare 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.
Why it matters for urban farming
This research suggests that citizen-driven urban farms can go beyond mere food production to contribute to community health and welfare. Especially for isolated older adults or individuals facing mental health challenges, engagement in farming activities can foster social interaction and a sense of achievement, potentially alleviating depression and anxiety. By embracing a 'care farm' role, urban farms can create new value by improving participants' quality of life. However, to maximize these effects and design sustainable programs, it's crucial to scientifically understand which activities are most effective for which populations.