Evaluation of the home visiting horticultural activity for elderly people by the universitystudents majoring in agriculture and horticulture

摘要

The purpose of this study is to clarify the effect of home visiting horticultural activity on students and elderly people. The case study was performed from May until July 2012. Eighteen students ( 5 males, 13females) were arranged to 4 elderly residents to support horticultural works. Comments and behaviors by all participants and questionnaires to the students were analyzed based on Grounded Theory, ie. , this was a qualitative research. As a result, elderly people often made a comments and behaviors regarding “management conditions of their gardenu22. In almost same frequency, they also had a “contact with studentsu22. This activity has given elderly people a sentimentof satisfaction not only from their garden improvement, but also from interaction with students. In addition, this satisfaction was suggested to be a motive for continuous participation in the activity. Furthermore, since this activity itself matched with students participation motive, led to improve their motivation in their specific studies.In conclusion, since both elderly people and students can gain the satisfaction and motivation for the continuous participation, we believe this activity has potential to lead the community care in the future.