Greenspace programmes for problem substance use

Read the event report for Wendy Masterton's webinar on greenspace programmes for problem substance use.

The focus of Masterton’s work is on targeted health interventions based in greenspace ("greenspace programmes"), such as therapeutic horticulture, wilderness & adventure, and ‘care farming’.

Masterton’s work focusses on the key components and processes that make greenspace programmes successful, specifically, “What are the mechanisms that lead to outcomes, and in what contexts do these occur?”; that is, not if but how interventions work. She addressed this in three phases:

1. Realist review, producing a framework for how greenspace programmes work (doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102338);
2. Survey of greenspace organisations, which found widespread support for the proposed framework;
3. Qualitative interviews with staff and other stakeholders. Participants discussed the benefits of greenspace programmes, including feeling part of a community; redressing the power (im)balance; and providing a different (non-medicalised) approach to treatment/support which encourages ‘real’ relationships.

Key messages are that greenspace programmes may…

• Address rising costs associated with treatment services
• Have a prevention role
• Have the potential to meet people within communities and where they are at
• Fit into the wider policy landscape (such as environmental policy)
• Continue during COVID-19
• Reduce inequalities