Elsey, H, Bragg, R, Elings, M et al. (9 more authors) (2014) Understanding the impacts of care farms on health and well-being of disadvantaged populations: A protocol of the Evaluating Community Orders (ECO) pilot study. BMJ Open, 4 (10). ARTN e006536. ISSN 2044-6055
Abstract
Introduction: Care farms, where all or part of the farm is used for therapeutic purposes, show much potential for improving the health and well-being of a range of disadvantaged groups. Studies to date have been qualitative or observational, with limited empirical evidence of the effectiveness of care farms in improving health and well-being. Understanding the underlying mechanisms that lead to improvements for different disadvantaged groups is a further gap in the evidence. Participants in this study are offenders serving community orders. Their low socioeconomic status and poor health outcomes relative to the general population exemplifies disadvantage.