• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.305-320
• /
• 2020

Background and objective: The problem that follows the increase of dementia patients is the burden of caregivers caring for dementia patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of horticultural therapy programs improving the quality of life and reducing the depression and burden of caregivers of the elderly with dementia. Methods: In this study, 19 caregivers of the elderly with dementia were selected, and the experiment was conducted by dividing the control group (n=9) and the experimental group (n=10) by random distribution. The experimental group was given eight horticultural therapy programs twice a week for a total of 4 weeks. Subjects were assessed using the depression(CES-D), quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), and care burden scales. The evaluation results were verified at a 95% significance level using descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U test, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: In the case of depression, the control group's score tended to increase, and the experimental group's score appeared to decrease, but it was not a statistically significant change. In the quality of life, the control group was not statistically significant, but scores decreased overall. On the other hand, in the experimental group, the general quality of life increased significantly from 11.60 to 14.20 points (p = .02), and the total quality of life increased to a marginally significant level from 61.59 points to 68.85 points (p = .059). In the post-test of the total care burden score, a marginally significant difference was found between the control group (94.44 points) and the experimental group (82.50 points; p = .079). Conclusion: This study confirmed the applicability to reduce the burden of caregiving and improve the deterioration of quality of life of the caregivers. In particular, the results will serve as an opportunity to confirm accessibility in a new way to support the caregiver of dementia patients by demonstrating the applicability of horticultural therapy at a time when problems such as the burden of supporting the caregiver are emerging as social problems.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.772-783
• /
• 2015

This study focuses on horticultural activities using colorful food to reduce diets unbalanced in vegetables and to increase emotional intelligence. Horticultural activities using colorful food vegetables were based on 'Health in Daily Life' in the '7th Kindergarten Curriculum'; to improve the dietary habits of the young children, the program was also linked with a parents' education program. The research was conducted with a total of 70 children from classes for four-year-olds in three child-care centers located in Seoul. The horticultural activities based upon nutrition education included activities using colorful food vegetables and nutrition education. For the nutrition education group, only nutrition education was provided, while neither horticultural activities nor nutrition education were provided to the control group. The study was conducted from September to December 2011. A total of twelve sessions were conducted once a week for 60 minutes each. According to the result, after the horticultural activities with colorful food vegetable were conducted, both the nutrition education group and horticultural activity & nutrition education group showed improvements in 'Nutrition Knowledge' compared to the control group. Regarding 'Unbalanced Diet Behaviors', the horticultural activities & nutrition education group showed meaningful decreases compared to the control group. Moreover for preference of fruits and vegetables, the horticultural activities & nutrition education group revealed meaningful improvements. In conclusion, colorful food vegetable horticultural activity could be an effective approach to resolve the imbalance of health caused by unbalanced diets as children who participated in the colorful food vegetable horticultural activities continued to respond spontaneously to the colors of vegetables and fruits and showed joy and kept voluntarily eating them.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.586-595
• /
• 2012

This study was conducted to determine the effects of horticultural therapy (HT) program using hydroponics on work adjustment skills of students with mental retardation. Based on the critical role transitional model and special education curriculum for agriculture, especially hydroponics, HT program (total 22 sessions) using hydroponics procedure for Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. 'Asia Heuk Romaine') was developed. Fourteen (10 males, 4 females) graded $1^{st}$ to $2^{nd}$ with intellectual disabilities were recruited from a special education class in a high school located in Inchon, Korea and then a special farm for hydroponics in Inchon, Korea was offered for the HT program. The students with intellectual disabilities participated in the HT program for 4-month (from September to December of 2011, twice a week, approximately 60 minutes per session). Before and after the HT program, the McCarron assessment neuromuscular development, emotional behavioral checklist, interpersonal negotiation strategies, and KEPAD picture vocational interest test were performed by the teachers and horticultural therapists. As the results, the students significantly improved motor performance (p = 0.002), emotional behavioral strategies (p = 0.00), and interpersonal negotiation strategies (p = 0.05). However, no significant difference between before and after the HT program for vocational interest was observed. In conclusion, the HT program using hydroponics, consists of simple and easy tasks so that it would be applicable for the students with intellectual disabilities positively affected to work adjustment skills by improving the motor performance, emotional behavioral strategies, and interpersonal negotiation strategies. Additionally, HT programs using hydroponics with various kinds of vegetables are required to develop and to apply in practical settings for improving work adjustment skills.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2002.11b
• /
• pp.35-35
• /
• 2002

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.1066-1071
• /
• 2010

To evaluate the effect of horticultural therapy (HT) on the emotional improvement of depressed patients, computer-based heart rate variability (HRV) was compared with self-report scale (SRS) known as existing subjective evaluation method. SRS included four test areas: mental stress scale (MSS), physical stress scale (PSS), Beck anxiety inventory (BAI), and Beck depression inventory (BDI). HRV was itemized into four parameters: standard deviation of the N-N intervals (SDNN), square root of mean squared difference of successive N-N intervals (RMSSD), total power (TP), and low-frequency/high-frequency ratio (LF/HF ratio). Thirty patients with depression at the same mental hospital participated in this study. 15 patients of the treatment group received HT once a week for three months, but the control group did not during the same period. As a result, the emotional improvement in treatment group was clearly identified through HRV as well as SRS. The significant difference was shown at three test areas (MSS, BAI, and BDI, $p$ < 0.001) in SRS and at one parameter (total power, $p$ < 0.05) in HRV. There was noticeable increase in SDNN, RMSSD, and LF/HF ratio in treatment group after HT activity, but no significant difference. Although all parameters of HRV did not show significance, the possibility of HRV as an objective evaluation method to HT was recognized in this study. These results also implied that HT was efficient in the mental and physical regeneration of the depressed patients in both subjective and objective evaluation methods.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.39-50
• /
• 2010

Purpose: The study was done to examine the development and effects of horticulture therapy on quality of sleep and immune function in patients in hospice units. Methods: The participants in this study were hospice patients in D hospital in D city. Thirty hospice patients were assigned to the experimental group, thirty to the control group. Data were collected from April 29 to July 26, 2009. The horticulture therapy program consisted of indoor and outdoor horticultural activities. The horticulture therapy was conducted for 30 minutes, 6 times a week for 3 weeks (a total 18 times). Measures were quality of sleep, and immune function by serum T-cell, NK-cell count. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test and t-test with SPSS/WIN 13.0 version. Results: Patients in the experimental group receiving horticulture therapy had a significant difference in changes in the quality of sleep compared to the control group. There were also a significant difference in changes in the immune function (serum T cell and serum NK cell) between the experimental group and control group. Conclusion: The study results indicate that horticulture therapy developed for hospice patients is an effective, palliative intervention program to improve the quality of sleep and immune function of hospice patients.

• The Journal of Sustainable Design and Educational Environment Research
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.11-25
• /
• 2020

This study was carried out to present the conceptual framework of a model as a basic study for the development of the stress control horticultural therapy model of middle school students utilizing the school garden based on the basic psychological need theory. By grasping the general characteristics and needs of middle school students, we set the purpose of the program as stress control, and by utilizing the school garden as an activity, horticultural intervention was proposed to meet the basic psychological needs that affect stress control. And also through analyzing the relevant literature, we presented a conceptual framework for the concepts and definitions, elements, processes, and operations of this model.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.291-296
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of gardening programs using vertical gardens on helplessness, depression, and self-esteem in patients with chronic mental disorders. This study was applied to 21 patients with chronic mental disorder who were admitted to the rehabilitation hospital of E Hospital in Seoul from June to October 2018. The group was treated as an experimental group (N = 21) 5 times a week. For 20 weeks, each session lasted 30 minutes. Patients in the experimental group programmed 4 sessions of general occupational therapy, which combined treatments to improve cognition and training, and 1 session of a horticultural program using a vertical garden. Helplessness, depression, and self-esteem were evaluated for pre and post evaluation of the horticultural program. After completing the program, the average score of helplessness in the experimental group decreased by 0.91 points from 47.38 to 46.47, and there was a statistically significant change (p=0.043). The mean score of depression in the experimental group was 9.23 before and after 9.08, which was statistically significant (p = 0.035). The average score of self-esteem in the experimental group increased by 3.14 points from 27.99 to 31.13 at a statistically significant level (p = 0.001). This result suggests that a gardening program using vertical gardens has an effect on helplessness, depression, and self-esteem in patients with chronic mental disorders. And this means that long-term plans and effective programs for recovery from chronic mental disorders to the community are needed. With a horticultural work program using a vertical garden, the helplessness of the mentally impaired in a closed treatment space is restored, and such treatment space needs to be increased.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.85-96
• /
• 2021

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigatecomplementary therapiesprovided at hospice palliative care facilities in South Koreaas designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Methods: The survey was conducted via e-mail from September 2 to September 23, 2020, with responsesfrom 109 therapists and 59 managers from 55 different hospice care facilities. Results: Hospices provided an average of 3.67 different types of therapies, ranging from 1 to 7 different types. The most common types of therapies were horticultural therapy (81.4%), music therapy (79.7%), art therapy (76.3%), and aromatherapy (57.6%). The average frequency of sessions was once a week, the median duration was 60 minutes. Most therapists (96.3%) had qualifications, but the certification-issuing organizations and training intensiveness varied greatly. None of the therapists were employed on a full-time basis, and their average monthly income was KRW 270,000. Therapists and managers gave average scores of 8.90 and 8.38 out of 10, respectively, regarding the positive impact of complementary therapies on patients. Conclusion: In order for patients and their families to benefit from complementary therapiesat hospice care facilities, in addition tobetter terms of employment for therapists, evidence-based guidelines for different types of therapies are needed so that therapy sessions can be conducted according to the theoretical underpinnings and characteristics of the type of therapy. It is expected that the results of this study will be used for policy-making in support of therapy as an essential hospice service.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.267-276
• /
• 2020

Background and objective: Agro-healing is crucial with urban farming in the domestic. It is beyond the conventional agriculture. This study was carried out to assess the 2010s researches on domestic agro-healing and predict the future direction of agro-healing development. Methods: Among the articles published from 2010 to 2018, we collected some articles by searching keywords including agro-healing, garden activity, gardening, horticultural activity, horticultural program, horticultural therapy, plant effect, plant environment, plant growing program, plant impact, social gardening, urban agriculture and vegetable garden activity, selected 83 articles that were evaluated in advance, and analyzed by frequency analysis, t-test, and one-way ANOVA with SPSS 20.0. Results: Agro-healing journal articles were published the most in 2010, and have declined since then. In the classification according to the academic society, most of the journal articles were published by the Society for People, Plants, and Environment. The main targets of domestic agro-healing related to activities and programs were preschoolers, children and adolescents, accounting for 52.4% of the total. By the characteristics of the subjects, agro-healing programs and studies were conducted with special participants who needed special care compared to the general participants. The dependent variables were classified into six areas according to their attributes and the share of psychological and emotional areas was highest (42.6%) among them. In terms of the composition of the program, the share of those with 9-12 sessions was highest (36.7%) and the share of those with more than 20 participants was also highest (39.8%). Conclusion: It is recommended to operate agro-healing programs or industries focusing on the socially disadvantaged including those who have special needs or the underprivileged, but in order to create income for farms and expand the demand for agro-healing, it will be necessary to spread the perception that anyone without any physical or emotional issue can be the targets of and experience agro-healing. To meet the different needs of targets of agro-healing, it will be necessary to conduct objective and practical studies on broader areas and in the process the healing functions of agriculture and the strength of agro-healing needs to be further highlighted.