With population aging, increasing numbers of elderly people in Japan are expected to enter aged care facilities (ACFs). Although research has shown that access to community gardens (CGs) is generally beneficial to older people's psychological well-being, the mechanisms by which the usage and quality of CGs influence the well-being of older adults in ACFs remain insufficiently studied. Therefore, this study aims to explore the associations between garden factors (i.e., garden visit frequency and perceived garden quality) and older adults' psychological well-being outcomes (i.e., positive well-being and self-rated health) and to investigate the mediating role of neighborhood social environment factors (i.e., outing frequency, social participation, perceived neighborhood social cohesion, and perceived neighborhood attachment) in these associations. We conducted a questionnaire survey with 322 older adults from twelve elderly housing with care services (EHCSs) in the Tokyo metropolitan area (TMA) of Japan. The multiple regression models showed that both garden factors were positively associated with positive well-being and self-rated health. The parallel mediation models showed that higher garden visit frequency and perceived garden quality were associated with higher outing frequency and perceived neighborhood social cohesion and, in turn, with higher positive well-being. Moreover, higher garden visit frequency and perceived garden quality were associated with greater social participation and thereby with better self-rated health; higher perceived garden quality was also associated with higher perceived neighborhood attachment and thus with better self-rated health. Our findings elucidate the potential mechanisms underlying the beneficial associations between CGs and the psychological well-being of older adults in ACFs, emphasizing the important role of cultivating friendly social environments in CGs in enhancing healthy aging.

中文翻译：

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社区花园和提供护理服务的老年住房中老年人的心理健康：社会环境的作用

随着人口老龄化，预计将有越来越多的日本老年人进入老年护理机构（ACF）。尽管研究表明，进入社区花园（CG）通常有利于老年人的心理健康，但社区花园的使用和质量影响社区花园中老年人健康的机制仍没有充分研究。因此，本研究旨在探讨花园因素（即花园参观频率和感知花园质量）与老年人心理健康结果（即积极幸福感和自我评价健康）之间的关联，并调查中介因素邻里社会环境因素（即外出频率、社会参与、感知的邻里社会凝聚力和感知的邻里依恋）在这些关联中的作用。我们对日本东京都市区 (TMA) 12 个提供护理服务的老年人住宅 (EHCS) 的 322 名老年人进行了问卷调查。多元回归模型显示，这两个花园因素都与积极的幸福感和自评健康呈正相关。平行中介模型表明，较高的花园参观频率和感知的花园质量与较高的外出频率和感知的邻里社会凝聚力相关，反过来又与较高的积极幸福感相关。此外，更高的花园参观频率和感知的花园质量与更大的社会参与度相关，从而与更好的自我评价健康相关；较高的花园质量感知也与较高的邻里依恋相关，从而与更好的自我评价健康相关。我们的研究结果阐明了 ACF 中 CG 与老年人心理健康之间有益关联的潜在机制，强调了 CG 中培养友好的社会环境对于促进健康老龄化的重要作用。