Stress, PsychologicalNCT06277583
Urban Care Farming on Living Well and Productive Engagement of Older Adults
A study testing Urban care farming in people with Stress, Psychological, run by National University of Singapore at 2 sites in Singapore.
Trial summary
The goal of the randomized controlled trials is to learn about the effects of urban farming interventions on older adults' physical, mental, and social well-being of older adults aged 50 to 85 years. The main questions the study aims to answer are Q1. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 50 to 85 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Stress, Psychological
- What is being tested?
- Urban care farming
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 137 participants
- Where
- 2 sitesSingapore
- Study dates
- 15 Mar 2024to 22 May 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 50 to 85 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Willing to take part in the intervention
- Agree for their data to be used for research purposes
- Ambulant and able to carry out some tasks independently
Who cannot join
- Not willing to participate in the data collection (participants can opt not to answer some questions in the questionnaire but have to consent to the other data collection methods, e.g., Blood taking/test)
- Refusal to give informed consent
- Unable to give consent independently
- Have a disability of the upper or lower body that limits their mobility
- Have medical conditions which in the opinion of the research/investigative team that would compromise (or interfere with) their ability to participate in the study
- Had a recent severe medical episode (e.g., heart attack)
Trial locations and contacts
2 sites in 1 country.
Singapore2 sites
NUS
Singapore, Singapore, 117549
Jurong Lake Garden
Singapore, 618661
About this study
Official title: Effects of Urban Care Farming on Promoting Wellbeing and Productive Engagement for Older Adults: A Randomised Controlled Trial
The goal of the randomized controlled trials is to learn about the effects of urban farming interventions on older adults' physical, mental, and social well-being of older adults aged 50 to 85 years. The main questions the study aims to answer are Q1. Would participants who have undergone the urban care farming intervention have lower stress levels compared to those who did not undergo the intervention? Q2. Would the quality of life and biopsychosocial factors of older adults who participate in the urban farming interventions be better before the intervention and compared to those who did not participate? Q3. Would running intervention programs as such demonstrate cost-effectiveness? Participants will be enrolled in 24 weekly lessons providing hands-on urban farming techniques, including physical activity, planting, and social interactions. Researchers will compare older participants with similar demographic profile to determine if the biological, psychological, and social factors are better for the intervention group.
Read the detailed description
The data collection consists of three sessions, before and after the 24-week intervention program, and 6 months post-intervention. Prior to the data collection, participants will be assessed for eligibility criteria and explained the detailed study procedures by trained research staff for informed consent. After completing the written informed consent, participants will be interviewed using detailed questionnaires relating to their health, nutrition, and dietary status, psychosocial measures, and undergo a series of physical examinations. These examinations include physical performance tests of mobility and gait, balance and strength, body measurements of weight, height, body mass index (BMI), waist-hip circumference, mid-upper-arm and calf circumference, blood pressure, and blood tests that will examine participants' clinical profile, biomarkers, and immunoassays. Participants will also be given Fitbit trackers to determine if they have improved their physical activity. Last, data collected will also include Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a non-invasive procedure to determine the oxygenation levels of participants at rest and while doing some thinking activities. This data collection procedure will be conducted at baseline before the intervention and after the completion of the intervention.
The intervention will include a weekly, 24-week urban farming program. Each weekly session is where participants will engage in outdoor and indoor horticultural activities ranging from fertilization, sowing, and watering, to transplanting, maintaining, and harvesting vegetables and herbs.
- Conditions
- Stress, Psychological
- Being tested
- Urban care farming
- Keywords
- stress, quality of life, biopsychosocial
- Medical subject headings
- Stress, Psychological
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Urban care farmingBehavioural
An intervention curriculum has been designed using horticulture therapy combined with urban farming techniques. The sessions will use plants and interaction with nature to engage and rehabilitate participants. Both the intervention and control group participants will undergo the intervention. But the intervention group will start with the urban care farming intervention first, and the control group will follow once the intervention group completes the program.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Urban Care farming Intervention | Experimental | This intervention group of participants will receive the experimental urban care farming treatment. Receives: Behavioral: Urban care farming |
| Waitlist control | Other | Waitlist control group consists of participants who do not receive the experimental treatment, but who are put on a waiting list to receive the intervention after the active treatment group does. Receives: Behavioral: Urban care farming |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
WHO Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF)
Brief version consisting of 26 QOL related questions developed by World Health Organisation. There are four domains, Physical, Psychological, Social relationships, and Environment. The minimum and maximum for each domain is 0 and 100 respectively, with higher scores being better outcome for each domain.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Secondary outcomes (18)
Immuno-biomarkers: IL-1RA, IL-6, IL-8 (CXCL8), IL-10, IL-13, IL-17A (CTLA-8), MIP-3 beta (CCL19), SDF-1 alpha, MMP-3, MMP-9, MCP-1 (CCL2), and TNF alpha
changes in concentration of cytokines, chemokines and selected ageing and inflammatory markers in measured in pg/mL
Measured: Baseline, 6 months
Brief sense of community scale (BSCS)
8-items measuring the dimensions of needs fulfillment, group membership, influence, and emotional connection. Composite scores with the average of the 8 items is computed, min 1 and max. 8, with higher scores showing greater sense of community.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Fried phenotype of frailty
Fried frailty phenotype (FP) assesses physical frailty through five criteria: unintentional weight loss; weakness or poor handgrip strength; self-reported exhaustion; slow walking speed; and low physical activity. Total scores are classified into 3 categories: non-frail, pre-frail, and frail.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Lubben social network scale (LSNS-6)
This scale measure of social engagement including family and friends, min score of 6 and max. score of 30. A higher score indicating more social engagement and a cutoff of 12 points indicate risk of social isolation.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy
Brain oxygenation levels measured in cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO^2).
Measured: Baseline, 6 months
EQ5D
EQ5D-5L, a measure that consists five dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. An utility score can be attached to the total score to determine the cost utility of the participants' quality of life. An utility score between 0 to 1 on the Singapore population will be derived.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
MOCA
Participants are scored following MOCA scoring criteria. Max. 30 points. Scores lower than 26 showed signs of cognitive impairment.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Brief resilience scale
Resilience scale on a 5 points scale, strongly disagree to strongly agree, the higher the score, the greater resilience.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
De jong Gierveld loneliness scale
Measures emotional and/or social loneliness situation of respondents and adds up to a total loneliness score. the total loneliness score can be categorized into four levels: not lonely (score 0, 1 or 2), moderate lonely (score 3 through 8), severe lonely (score 9 or 10), and very severe lonely (score 11).
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Fitbit
Steps count
Measured: Continuous for 30 weeks
Body weight and height
Measured in kilograms and metres respectively. Weight and height will be combined to report BMI in kg/m^2
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c
measures average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months
Measured: Baseline, 6 months
Serum Creatinine
measures the level of creatinine in the blood
Measured: Baseline, 6 months
Attitude towards eating healthy food
Attitude of healthy eating (11-items) adapted from Saba et al 2019 (DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2018.11.017). Composite score computed from the averaged measures will have a min of 1 and max of 5.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Waist and hip circumference
Measured in centimetres
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Blood pressure
Measured in systolic and diastolic
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Lipid panel
A lipid panel measures levels of various types of lipids (fats) in the blood. Measures HDL cholesterol (High-Density Lipoprotein) and LDL cholesterol (Low-Density Lipoprotein) and Triglycerides
Measured: Baseline, 6 months
Eating fruits and vegetables behavior
Behavior (8-items) towards eating fruits and vegetables developed for this study. Max. score of 10 and minimum score of 2 will be derived from this measurement.
Measured: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted26 Feb 2024
- Study start15 Mar 2024
- Primary completion25 Apr 2025
- Study completion22 May 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Stress, PsychologicalStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by National University of SingaporeThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Waitlist controlled trials: Participants from both the intervention and waitlist control groups will undergo the intervention 6 months apart.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 137 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- National University of Singapore
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Chen Huijun, Cynthia, National University of Singapore
- Investigators
- Cynthia Chen, PhD, Principal investigator, National University of Singapore
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06277583
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- NUS-IRB-2023-191
- Status last verified
- Feb 2024
- First submitted
- 1 Dec 2023
- Last updated
- 23 Jan 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: There is plan to share data dictionaries and unidentified IPD will be shared.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 23 Jan 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effects of Urban Care Farming on Promoting Wellbeing and Productive Engagement for Older Adults: A Randomised Controlled Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06277583
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- NUS-IRB-2023-191
- Conditions
- Stress, Psychological
- Keywords
- stress, quality of life, biopsychosocial
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 137 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- National University of SingaporeUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore
- Study start
- 15 Mar 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 25 Apr 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 22 May 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 26 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The goal of the randomized controlled trials is to learn about the effects of urban farming interventions on older adults' physical, mental, and social well-being of older adults aged 50 to 85 years. The main questions the study aims to answer are Q1. Would participants who have undergone the urban care farming intervention have lower stress levels compared to those who did not undergo the intervention? Q2. Would the quality of life and biopsychosocial factors of older adults who participate in the urban farming interventions be better before the intervention and compared to those who did not participate? Q3. Would running intervention programs as such demonstrate cost-effectiveness? Participants will be enrolled in 24 weekly lessons providing hands-on urban farming techniques, including physical activity, planting, and social interactions. Researchers will compare older participants with similar demographic profile to determine if the biological, psychological, and social factors are better for the intervention group.
Detailed description
The data collection consists of three sessions, before and after the 24-week intervention program, and 6 months post-intervention. Prior to the data collection, participants will be assessed for eligibility criteria and explained the detailed study procedures by trained research staff for informed consent. After completing the written informed consent, participants will be interviewed using detailed questionnaires relating to their health, nutrition, and dietary status, psychosocial measures, and undergo a series of physical examinations. These examinations include physical performance tests of mobility and gait, balance and strength, body measurements of weight, height, body mass index (BMI), waist-hip circumference, mid-upper-arm and calf circumference, blood pressure, and blood tests that will examine participants' clinical profile, biomarkers, and immunoassays. Participants will also be given Fitbit trackers to determine if they have improved their physical activity. Last, data collected will also include Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a non-invasive procedure to determine the oxygenation levels of participants at rest and while doing some thinking activities. This data collection procedure will be conducted at baseline before the intervention and after the completion of the intervention.
The intervention will include a weekly, 24-week urban farming program. Each weekly session is where participants will engage in outdoor and indoor horticultural activities ranging from fertilization, sowing, and watering, to transplanting, maintaining, and harvesting vegetables and herbs.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- Waitlist controlled trials: Participants from both the intervention and waitlist control groups will undergo the intervention 6 months apart.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Urban Care farming Intervention | Experimental | Behavioral: Urban care farmingThis intervention group of participants will receive the experimental urban care farming treatment. |
| Waitlist control | Other | Behavioral: Urban care farmingWaitlist control group consists of participants who do not receive the experimental treatment, but who are put on a waiting list to receive the intervention after the active treatment group does. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 50 to 85 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Willing to take part in the intervention
- Agree for their data to be used for research purposes
- Ambulant and able to carry out some tasks independently
Key exclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Not willing to participate in the data collection (participants can opt not to answer some questions in the questionnaire but have to consent to the other data collection methods, e.g., Blood taking/test)
- Refusal to give informed consent
- Unable to give consent independently
- Have a disability of the upper or lower body that limits their mobility
- Have medical conditions which in the opinion of the research/investigative team that would compromise (or interfere with) their ability to participate in the study
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Urban care farmingAn intervention curriculum has been designed using horticulture therapy combined with urban farming techniques. The sessions will use plants and interaction with nature to engage and rehabilitate participants. Both the intervention and control group participants will undergo the intervention. But the intervention group will start with the urban care farming intervention first, and the control group will follow once the intervention group completes the program. | Behavioural | Urban Care farming Intervention, Waitlist control |
Primary outcome
WHO Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF)
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Brief version consisting of 26 QOL related questions developed by World Health Organisation. There are four domains, Physical, Psychological, Social relationships, and Environment. The minimum and maximum for each domain is 0 and 100 respectively, with higher scores being better outcome for each domain.
18 secondary outcomes
Immuno-biomarkers: IL-1RA, IL-6, IL-8 (CXCL8), IL-10, IL-13, IL-17A (CTLA-8), MIP-3 beta (CCL19), SDF-1 alpha, MMP-3, MMP-9, MCP-1 (CCL2), and TNF alpha
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months
Brief sense of community scale (BSCS)
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Fried phenotype of frailty
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Lubben social network scale (LSNS-6)
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months
EQ5D
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
MOCA
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Brief resilience scale
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
De jong Gierveld loneliness scale
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Fitbit
Time frame: Continuous for 30 weeks
Body weight and height
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months
Serum Creatinine
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months
Attitude towards eating healthy food
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Waist and hip circumference
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Blood pressure
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Lipid panel
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months
Eating fruits and vegetables behavior
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 23 Jan 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. There is plan to share data dictionaries and unidentified IPD will be shared.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Cynthia Chen, PhD principal investigator
National University of Singapore
2 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Urban care farming in people with Stress, Psychological, run by National University of Singapore at 2 sites in Singapore.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 6 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 23 Jan 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 2 sites in Singapore. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
WHO Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF) (time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 23 Jan 2026.