Focus Group - Mental Health Benefits of Gardening for Older Adults in Residential Care in Scotland

We invite you to participate in a small research project conducted by Trellis and the University of Edinburgh, led by our student Zoey Wang, and supported by Emma Martindale, Trellis Training and Standards Officer, and Autumn Roesch-Marsh, Senior Lecturer in Social Work.

This project aims to explore the mental health benefits of gardening for older adults living in residential care in Scotland. At the same time, we seek to understand the practical challenges and potential support involved in implementing gardening in care homes.

 We are looking for participants who have worked in residential care with older people to take part in a focus group with us. The focus group will be online and will take about 1.5 hours. We will discuss together:

• The challenges and rewards of getting older adults outdoors and into garden spaces

• What makes gardening activities meaningful or therapeutic for residents

• The resources, training, and support that might make it easier to get care home residents into gardens and taking part in gardening activities

Once you have signed up above, you will receive an email from Zoey with a consent form for you to sign and return.  

Recording and Consent Notice

As part of a research project at the University of Edinburgh, the focus group session will be recorded (video and audio) solely for data analysis purposes.

Conditions of Use

• All recordings and data will be used exclusively for academic research.
• No images, video, or audio will be shared publicly, including on social media or in any promotional materials.
• Recordings will be securely stored and deleted after analysis is complete.
• All participants’ comments will remain confidential and anonymised in any reports or presentations.
• Participants may withdraw consent at any time before July 1st, 2025, without providing a reason. In that case, all related data will be deleted and excluded from the study.