Gardens for seniors : a case study in nursing homes in Milan (Italy)

The health-related benefits of accessing green areas (reducing stress levels, supporting physical activity, improving mood and quality of life) are particularly important for older adults, especially in long-term care settings. Well-designed outdoors environments can encourage older adults to spend more time outside. In this context, the authors conducted a research on 60 Nursing Homes in the Milan area in order to collect information on size, conditions and quality of green spaces, using the Seniors' Outdoor Survey (SOS-2), an instrument specifically designed to assess the ability of a green area to fit the needs of seniors and guarantee accessibility and usability for them. SOS-2 has 50 items grouped in 5 domains (lush garden setting, safe and comfortable, outdoor walking and activities, easy to see and reach, connect to the world). The average size of the gardens is 3160 m2with 60% of the structures in the range 1000-3000 m2. The garden area per bed has an average of 28.8 m2with over 80% of the structures with more than 9 m2of garden per bed. The SOS-2 tool uses a scale ranging from 1 (minimum) to 7 (maximum). The registered average score of the gardens is 3.29, with about 70% of gardens with an average score of less than 3.5. Despite the good supply of outdoor spaces nursing homes need a future increase in their quality. Research can contribute to growing the awareness that is necessary to adequately design the gardens in order to obtain the desired benefits.