Green Care: A Conceptual Framework - Frisk i naturen

two established theories as their foundations i.e. the Kaplan’s Attention
Restoration Theory (see Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989; Kaplan, 1995) and
Roger Ulrich’s work on recovery from stress (see Ulrich et al, 1991).
These, together with the concept of Biophilia (Kellert and Wilson,
1993) are used to explain why the natural environment is such an
important element. However, there are other, relevant theories that also
need to be considered and included within a conceptual framework of
green care. A model of green care must, therefore, engage with relevant
current theories or concepts and not exist in isolation.
■ ■ link with other approaches or interventions and introduce theories and
frameworks from those approaches that are useful and relevant to green
care. For example, care farming and social and therapeutic horticulture
can involve the creation of communities centred around a farm or
garden. The dynamics of these communities can have much in common
with those of Therapeutic Communities, which are used as an approach
in the treatment of people with mental health problems, particularly
those with personality disorders (see Campling, 2001).
■■ summarise the field in a structured way that makes it easier to visualise
the whole collection of activities, processes and interactions that make
up green care.
2.2 A short history of nature-based approaches
for promoting health and well-being
Using nature to nurture good health is not a new idea. Prisons, hospitals,
monasteries and churches have historically been associated with having
different outdoor therapeutic spaces. Frumkin (2001) points out that
“hospitals have traditionally had gardens as an adjunct to recuperation
and healing”. During the Middle Ages many hospitals and monasteries
looking after the sick traditionally incorporated arcaded courtyards to
provide outside shelter for patients and created beautiful gardens in their
surroundings (Bird, 2007; Nightingale, 1860, 1996; Gerlach-Spriggs et al,
1998).
The earliest recognisable ‘care programmes’ that used what may be
called ‘green care principles’ were at Geel in Flanders in the 13th century.
Here, ‘mentally distressed pilgrims’ came to worship at the holy shrine
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