Contact with Outdoor Greenery Can Support Competence Among People with Dementia

SUMMARY Dementia disorders are increasing among populations all over the world due to growing life expectancy. Since dementia widely affects cognition, especially short-term memory and orientation, people with dementia are more dependent on provisions from their environment to act successfully than those without dementia. Green environments have been associated with reduced autonomic arousal leading to stress recovery and improved affective state. In this paper we introduce theories and empirical studies about healing and green environment, and present our findings on the impact of plants, and of seeing and being outdoors on the well-being of people with dementia in day care and in residential care. The first study is based on a survey of 65 nursing staff from ten residential care homes. The second study involved 123 people with dementia from two day care units and six residential care units.