The Mental Health Foundation is carrying out a research project commissioned by Natural England’s Outdoors for All programme, which is asking people who are living with dementia and their carers about their activity and engagement with nature and the outdoors.
The survey has been set up to gather new information that will improve the understanding of how outdoor activity in the nature environment might enable more people to live well with dementia.
The evidence and insights from this research will be used to support and inform funding submissions for a large-scale project, which it is hope will start next year.
Natural England’s chairman, Andrew Sells, said: "There is already very good evidence that having access to the natural environment benefits people’s mental and physical health, their sense of well-being and quality of life.
"There is also emerging evidence of the benefits of engagement with the natural environment for those living with dementia. The information from this survey will add to our understanding of this and help us to take action to enable more people with dementia to be active outdoors."
This initial research phase of the project has two elements. The first is a survey aimed at better understanding the views and experiences of carers of people living with dementia, with a focus on:
- how natural green spaces might be made more dementia friendly
- better understand why people living with dementia do or don’t participate in outdoor activities in the nature environment,
- find out what the barriers are for people living with dementia, and their carers, to taking part in activities in the natural environment
If you are a carer of a person who is living with dementia then you could contribute to this research by completing the confidential survey.
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