園藝活動對年長者生活之影響

Abstract

本研究利用質性訪談探討年長者從事園藝活動的過程中，如何表現出認真性休閒特質，藉此檢視其園藝活動的休閒發展歷程，更深入探討年長者對於園藝活動的長期參與、中止以及轉換之原因。 本研究以深度訪談與紮根理論總共訪問二十位年長者，受訪者年齡設定為六十五歲以上，日常生活中從事園藝活動的高齡人士。初步訪談地點選擇為年長者較常聚會的場所進行採樣，接著運用滾雪球的方式接觸更多受訪對象。分別於2011年七月、十一月、2012年七月、以及2013年二月進行訪談。藉由探討認真性休閒特質與園藝活動發展歷程，來呈現年長者參與園藝活動的效益。本研究發現從事園藝活動的年長者呈現出七大特質：持續的精神、職涯性、個人努力、持續性效益、獨特特質、強烈的認同感 以及人生省思，其中前六大類符合認真性休閒理論（Stebbins,2007），本研究亦發現三項年長者從事園藝活動的阻礙因素分別為，居住環境、失敗的經驗以及活動轉移。本研究以探討年長者參與園藝活動的主要動機以及阻礙因素為目的，藉由討論園藝活動帶給高齡人士的效益，以及深入瞭解年長者參與園藝活動可能遇到的阻礙。期待研究結果除了可以作為日後年長者的園藝課程設計之參考，同時，也增加年長者持續參與園藝活動的可能性。

The purpose of this qualitative research attempts to explore the quality of serious leisure from elderly who work on gardening as their leisure, and to discuss their gardening activities as a leisure career. Finally the contingencies of the turning points are also explained during the process of leisure carrier. In-depth interview and Ground Theory were applied into 20 elderly gardeners as the research methods. The interviewees were chosen from places were elderly frequently appeared, and after that snowball sampling were applied. Interviewee were over 65 years old who participating in gardening as their leisure activities. The participants were interviewed between July 2011, November 2011, July 2012 and February 2013. Three results were concluded in this research. First, seven distinctive qualities were found; six qualities mentioned by Stebbins (2007). Second the essences of three carrier stages were identified clearly. Finally, three principals of gardening constraints were found in the study. This study provides an empirical analysis of gardening processes. Expect to support the benefits of gardening program for elderly people and to increase their continue participation in gardening activities.