ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1567619
This article is part of the Research TopicUrban Nature and its Benefits for Human HealthView all articles
The Nature Support Model for Dementia: A Conceptual Idea for Green Nursing Home Environments Designed to Support Well-Being Throughout the Last Stages of Dementia
Provisionally accepted
- Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Dementia is one of the world's greatest public health challenges. An increasing number of studies point to contact with nature in the form of green views and stays in green environments as a nonpharmacological way of supporting the well-being of persons with dementia. This article introduces the Nature Support Model for Dementia, a conceptual idea that can be used to design green environments at nursing homes for people with dementia intended to support the user's health and well-being. The model is based on this research as well as studies that consider user specific design of green environments. Furthermore, it builds on existing conceptual models for the design of supportive green environments. It caters to nursing home residents in the final stages of dementia decline. It considers their increasing needs for assistance and meets the needs for safety and security. The model was developed in connection with an evidence-based design process resulting in an architectural proposal for a nursing home. A presentation of this proposal illustrates how the model can be used in practice to facilitate architectural programming and the design of green nursing home environments intended to be supportive.
Keywords: dementia1, Nursing home2, health design3, landscape architecture4, nature5, green environment6
Received: 27 Jan 2025; Accepted: 23 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lygum, Mathiasen and Frandsen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Victoria Linn Lygum, Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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