The Effects of a Park Visit Program on Individuals With Dementia and Their Caregivers

Summary

The overall goals of our project is to understand the effects of participating in park visits and nature-based activities for people living with dementia and their caregivers. Nature-based activities such as park visits can have beneficial effects on quality of life, psychological symptoms and physical health. However, there may be barriers for people with dementia and their caregivers that may prevent them from engaging in park visits. The Nature Connections park visit program will provide education sessions for 10 persons living with dementia and 10 caregivers highlighting the beneficial effects of park visits and address common barriers to participating in park visits. Following the education session participants will be provided with weekly telephone/internet support meetings for participants to share their experiences with park visits and to address any challenges individuals encountered when trying to complete their visits. The impact of park visits on quality of life, behaviours, and measures of stress for people with dementia and their caregivers will be assessed over 8 weeks. Following completion of the program participants will provide an evaluation of the program to understand their experience and satisfaction with the program. This project will provide new information about the effects of park visits as a practical strategy to improve the quality of life, psychological symptoms and measures of stress for both people with dementia and caregivers.

Conditions

• Mild Dementia
• Moderate Dementia
• Alzheimer Disease

Interventions

OTHER

Nature Connections Intervention

10 PLWD and their 10 caregivers will be examined for the effects of a park visit program on their behaviour and mood symptoms, cognition, and quality of life over the period of 8-weeks. If participants meet the study criteria, an initial education session on the health benefits of nature will be provided to the them. Participants will then be invited to participate in the park visit program which will have them visiting local parks or outdoors spaces with their caregivers. They will be encouraged to allocate approximately 120 minutes each week to outdoor park activities for 8 weeks. Participants will be provided with a visit passport to record a log of activities completed during the park visits. During the 8 weeks of intervention, participants will also participate in a weekly check-in meeting with other participants to discuss about their experiences with the park visits.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Alzheimer's Association

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Calgary

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Dallas P Seitz, MD, PhD · University of Calgary

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-11-01

Primary Completion

2024-09-30

Completion

2024-12-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations