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2021 - Volume 5 - Number 1

Social Life of Senior Citizens: A Review of Therapeutic Effects of Gardening for Wellbeing in Urban Nepal

Gita Khadka * gtkhadka@gmail.com * ORCID: 0000-0003-3382-5474
Singhania University, Rajasthan, School of Applied and Social Science, INDIA

Megh Raj Dangal * megh@ku.edu.np * ORCID: 0000-0002-3067-7405
Kathmandu University, School of Arts, NEPAL

Open Journal for Sociological Studies, 2021, 5(1), 21-30 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojss.0501.03021k
Received: 5 March 2021 ▪ Accepted: 29 June 2021 ▪ Published Online: 31 July 2021

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
This paper provides the insights for a better understanding of individual, familiar, and social factors of loneliness that influence wellbeing of people in later life. The review offers a thematic analysis on loneliness in elderly people and the therapeutic effects of gardening activities for healthy ageing. Five key themes related to loneliness of elderly people emerged across the papers: loneliness-an issue for wellbeing in life after retirement; the effects of gardening and plants on loneliness; gardening – a therapeutic tool to combat loneliness; elderly’s loneliness during the pandemic and home gardening; and national and international initiatives to decrease loneliness in the elderly population. The review found a significant gap in literature directly connecting loneliness in the elderly with gardening activities for happy and healthy life ageing. The review found that there is a limited number of literatures on the loneliness situation of elderly people during the pandemic, where gardening plays a vital role to reduce the psychological problem while maintaining the social distancing and isolation.

KEY WORDS: social life, senior citizen, therapeutic effects, wellbeing, Nepal.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Megh Raj Dangal, Kathmandu University, School of Arts, Kathmandu, NEPAL. E-mail: megh@ku.edu.np.

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