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• The role of urban green spaces in the well-being of people with dementia and their carers

  50-77

  Márta Fekete

  Luca Frankó

  György Pataki

  Veronika Kiss

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  225

  The aim of our empirical research was to explore how walking in green spaces in urban neighbourhoods contributes to the well-being of people with dementia and their informal carers. The study involved 3 caregiver – care recipient dyads, with carers keeping diary entries of regular walks together for a month (April-May 2021). In addition to the diary writing, carers completed a quantitative questionnaire as part of their research, in which they assessed their own and their relative's mental and mood state and their interaction before, during and after the walk. Based on the assessments of the questionnaires received from the 39 walks, results showed significant improvements in mental state and mood for both carers and cared-for persons, as well as in the way their dyads interacted with each other as a result of the walk. This trend was also supported and explained by the textual content of the diary entries. Thus, our small sample study was able to demonstrate that in the case of the caregiver – care recipient dyads we studied, a walk in an urban green environment had a positive effect on the mood and mental state of both partners, as well as on their cooperation. The significance of our results is that they support the role of urban green spaces in health promotion among chronic patients and their informal caregivers in a national sample: walking in nature can thus be considered a low-cost, generally positive and relatively easy and accessible intervention with a high impact.