Help us to investigate the changing use and needs of natural spaces for children and their guardians and caregivers during a pandemic by filling in this questionnaire
During the first wave of COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown measures, a number of Green4C’s partners came together having noticed a continuously growing sentiment; the laments of parents, other guardians and caregivers of children and their lack of access to green and natural spaces for themselves and their children.
The lockdown measures of many countries differed in relation to their level of restriction to the natural spaces, ranging from sometimes total in-house lockdown where only essential movements were permitted, to “lighter” lockdowns where most restrictions were considered as recommendations and implied on a voluntary basis. As the virus grew and peaked, the laments of parents, other guardians and caregivers of children also seemed to grow. Even though these lockdown measures were imposed across countries to limit the spread of the virus, the measures and limitations to being outdoors sometimes resulted in challenges, often new, for guardians and caregivers, and the children in their care. And while some homes had access to natural spaces or gardens, the prolonged restrictive measures and uncertainty caused by these measures created challenges for those homes also. Such challenges ranged from the difficulty parents had in lack of access to some caregivers (babysitters), reduced outdoor natural space for exercise and sport for children, reduced fresh air, home schooling, smart working and many more.
Research tells us that people use gardens and natural spaces for different reasons and they can give different benefits to different groups of individuals. With this survey, we would like to understand whether the perceived need for natural spaces has changed among guardians and caregivers during and since the implementation of lockdown.
Your contribution will improve the understanding of the potential change of need and use of gardens and outdoor natural spaces and support future planning of healthy cities, especially during times of crisis. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and we truly appreciate your efforts. This survey is conducted by an international team of researchers of the Green4C consortium.
The Green4C project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, has an overarching and ambitious aim of integrating business and scientific sectors that are currently disconnected: the health and social inclusion sectors and the nature-based sectors in both rural and urban areas. Considering that COVID-19 has unfortunately occurred during the delivery of the Green4C project, the results of this study hope to support and reinforce Green4C further in achieving the abovementioned aim.
Are you a parent, grandparent, teacher, caregiver, legal guardian or a baby sitter? Do you take care of children (0-12 years)? Then you can help us by filling in the following questionnaire by 31/10/2020 : bit.ly/questionnaire-naturalspaces
Photo credit: Designed by pch.vector / Freepik
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