Czech Republic

In Prague, the RECETAS project focused on older adults living in urban areas. The experiments started in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many, this major public health crisis worsened the preexisting mobility limitations and lack of social contacts, resulting in increased distress.

Nature-based group activities have previously been found to have the potential to strengthen relationships and support well-being. They therefore appeared as a potentially relevant solution that deserved greater attention. Moreover, despite increasing urbanisation, Prague offers an ideal setting to test such interventions in an urban environment thanks to its wealth of parks and riverfronts.

For these reasons, a pragmatic randomized controlled trial was conducted with the collaboration of the local healthcare and social services partners. In contrast to a traditional randomized controlled trial, a pragmatic randomized controlled trial evaluates the intervention in real-world settings and tests effectiveness on typical patients.

Among the 300 participants, half underwent the intervention, while the other half was offered traditional intervention. Both groups were regularly asked to fill detailed surveys, in order for the researchers to be able to accurately assess the effectiveness of the intervention.