Does gardening make us healthy? Evaluating the health and wellbeing outcomes of participants in an extension community gardening program.
Warner College of Natural Resources
Human Dimensions of Natural Resources
Logan
County
(Larimer)
- Health & Wellbeing
- Equal time spent on-campus and in the field
Primary Topic:
Health & Wellbeing
Other Topics:
Natural Resources
Internship Overview:
The intern will be working with Jim and Sara in close collaboration with the newly established Collective for Nature Immersion Science and Practice (cNISP) at CSU, which aims to foster collaboration between researchers and practitioners in the space of nature, human health and wellbeing. The intern will be helping to assess pre-existing programming in Northeastern Colorado, as well as helping to develop standardization of these methods for future assessments with other Extension projects. The intern is expected to spend some field time visiting Northeastern Colorado, but will split time between there and Fort Collins.
Goals, Scope and Objectives:
The intern will work Sara (Academic Mentor) and Jim (Extension Mentor) to do the following:
1. Develop and administer a pre/post survey for program participants in the community gardening programs to assess health and wellbeing outcomes (mental health, social connectedness, etc.)
2. Work with Jim and Sara to refine the program assessment process with a goal towards scaling it to other Extension Agencies, with a goal of creating a standard template in Qualtrics.
3. Work with Sara, Jim and the CNISP team to use the results of our (already collected) community needs assessment to begin developing curriculum to train future Extension Agents in how to assess health and wellbeing outcomes as a result of nature-based programming.
4. Work with Jim to disseminate the results of the work to the program participants and public, as well as to an academic audience at the Extension poster session.
1. Develop and administer a pre/post survey for program participants in the community gardening programs to assess health and wellbeing outcomes (mental health, social connectedness, etc.)
2. Work with Jim and Sara to refine the program assessment process with a goal towards scaling it to other Extension Agencies, with a goal of creating a standard template in Qualtrics.
3. Work with Sara, Jim and the CNISP team to use the results of our (already collected) community needs assessment to begin developing curriculum to train future Extension Agents in how to assess health and wellbeing outcomes as a result of nature-based programming.
4. Work with Jim to disseminate the results of the work to the program participants and public, as well as to an academic audience at the Extension poster session.
With which stakeholder group(s) will the intern work?
The intern will work with older adults and youth in Northeastern Colorado who are taking part in a community gardening program.
What student learning outcomes do you anticipate and what are the opportunities for professional development?
After this project the student will learn/refine
1. Survey development and administration
2. The basics and ethics of Human Subjects Research
3. Community-based research methods
4. Science communication/dissemination skills
5. Basics in curricular development/creating teaching and learning objectives
6. Opportunity for the right student to learn basics in R statistical computing language
We anticipate that this opportunity would serve as useful research experience for a student who is interested in either/both academic research and community practice of nature and health.
1. Survey development and administration
2. The basics and ethics of Human Subjects Research
3. Community-based research methods
4. Science communication/dissemination skills
5. Basics in curricular development/creating teaching and learning objectives
6. Opportunity for the right student to learn basics in R statistical computing language
We anticipate that this opportunity would serve as useful research experience for a student who is interested in either/both academic research and community practice of nature and health.
