Doctoral Dissertation Research: The effects of community allotment gardening on health and well-being in two Chicago communities

医学人类学家早就认识到，贫穷、饥饿和疾病等问题根植于制约人们日常生活的社会和经济结构之中。在一生中遭受剥夺或歧视可能会“触怒”并产生有害的健康影响。随着慢性病发病率的上升，现在越来越重要的是了解人们如何设法对抗这些影响，以积极的方式积极改变他们的社会、文化和物理环境。社区分配园艺是自第二次世界大战以来在美国流行的一种城市农业形式，是城市居民试图改善当地食物环境的一种手段。了解社区园艺是否以及在什么情况下减轻健康负担，将有助于社会科学家更好地理解文化与人类生物学之间的关系。这项研究对城市保健提供者和与城市农业和分区有关的规划人员也有实际应用。西北大学（Northwestern University）的博士生萨拉·r·泰勒（Sarah R. Taylor）在威廉·r·伦纳德（William R. Leonard）博士的指导下，在芝加哥两个社会经济困难程度不同的社区开展了这项研究。她的研究探索了整个园艺季节对社区园艺的社会、环境和健康影响。她正在记录健康和幸福的变化，使用客观指标，如血压、胆固醇和血糖水平，以及主观指标，如感知压力、生活习惯和园丁和控制者的生活质量。此外，人种学访谈和参与者观察将产生关于人们如何实际利用他们的花园，他们的园艺动机，以及感知到的好处的深入信息。通过结合深入的定性和定量研究方法，本研究的结果将阐明社区园艺实践影响城市居民健康和福祉的潜在过程。

Medical anthropologists have long recognized that problems of poverty, hunger, and disease are embedded in social and economic structures that constrain people's everyday lives. Experiencing deprivation or discrimination over a lifetime can "get under the skin" and produce detrimental health effects. With rising rates of chronic illnesses, it is now increasingly important to understand those situations in which people manage to counter these effects, actively modifying their social, cultural, and physical environments in positive ways. Community allotment gardening, a form of urban agriculture popular in the United States since World War II, is one means by which people in cities try to improve their local food environment. Understanding whether, and under what circumstances, community gardening reduces health burdens will help social scientists to better understand the relationship between culture and human biology. The research also has practical applications for urban health providers and for planners concerned with urban agriculture and zoning.Northwestern University doctoral student, Sarah R. Taylor, with guidance from Dr. William R. Leonard, is carrying out the research in two Chicago neighborhoods characterized by different levels of socioeconomic hardship. Her research explores the social, environmental, and health impacts of community gardening over the course of a full gardening season. She is documenting changes in health and well-being using objective measures, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels, as well as subjective measures, such as perceived stress, lifestyle habits, and quality of life among gardeners and controls. In addition, ethnographic interviews and participant observation will yield in-depth information about how people actually utilize their gardens, their motivations for gardening, and the perceived benefits. By combining in-depth qualitative and quantitative research methods, findings from this research will elucidate the underlying processes by which the practice of community gardening works to shape the health and well-being of urban residents.