• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.19 no.11
• /
• pp.1437-1444
• /
• 2010

This research was to find out the effectiveness of the horticultural therapy program based on the therapeutic factors and the most meaningful experiences of the clients. For this purpose "Green harmony" program focused on harmony through horticulture was implemented. It is based on the preposition that holistic health is promoted with harmonious relationships with oneself, other people, community and nature. The program has three-fold structure: In innermost it deals with the task of the late adolescent, i.e., self identity, secondly the experience of communication and solidarity in the group, and finally extension of interest to the community. For the therapeutic intervention, questions using the metaphor of the activity were given to the clients for the establishment of self-identity, while group activity and the donation of the works let the second and third purpose accomplished. Outdoor activity, 'Tire garden project', has provided the clients with chances of the contact with nature, cooperation with other group members, and a contest to provoke enthusiasm. Also recycling and greening of the community were possible by utilizing old tires for the containers and by donating the final works to the community. For the evaluation of the result, the effect of the program on the stress of the college students was tested, and the most meaningful experiences during the participation to the program were asked to identify the therapeutic factors acknowledged by clients. "Green harmony" program has brought positive effects on the stress of the clients in spite of relatively short period of five weeks. The clients has acknowledged plant/nature contact and interactions between group members for the most meaningful experiences. This research suggests "Green harmony" horticultural therapy program based on the therapeutic factors is highly applicable for the general populations.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.359-363
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of gardening programs using therapeutic gardens on the fall efficacy of the elderly. This study was applied to 31 elderly facility users from April to August 2019 at a nursing home P located in Gyeonggi-do. Among the 31 participants who participated in the program, 16 subjects in the experimental group and 15 subjects in the control group were randomly selected. As for the experimental group program, a fall program consisting of fall education and strength training four times a week and a horticultural occupational program were implemented once a week in a healing garden for a total of 15 weeks. The control group performed fall program for 30 minutes 5 times a week for a total of 15 weeks. The fall efficacy of the tested group increased by 5.50 points from 29points before the program to 34.50points after the program, and statistically significant results were obtained (p=0.000). The control group who only progressed the fall program increased 3.63 points from 28.87points before the trial to 32.50points after the trial, and statistically significant results were obtained (p=0.000). From this result, it can be confirmed that the horticultural program using the treatment garden has the potential as a program related to falls. In the future, various studies are needed so that gardening programs using gardens can be applied to prevent falls of the elderly.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.145-157
• /
• 2019

This study was conducted to examine the effects of horticultural therapy on depression and emotional balance of women with hearing impairment. Ten women with hearing impairment registered in the Mokpo branch of the Korean Association of the Hearing Impaired were selected, and participated in the horticultural therapy program composed of 14 sessions from May 15 to July 31. The horticultural therapy program consisted of 'planting tropical orchids,' 'making a dish garden,' 'making plum pickles,' 'decorating a table with flowers,' 'making a hanging pot with succulent plants,' 'making pressed flowers with hydrangea,' 'making a fan with pressed flowers,' 'making a terrarium,' 'making a flower basket,' 'making a mosquito repellent spray,' 'decorating a heart-shaped cup with flowers,' 'making a natural herbal soap,' 'making a hydrangea bouquet' and 'making watermelon salad.' The depression and emotional balance scales were used to examine the effects of the program and the pre- and post-program scores were compared. The mean value of depression statistically significantly decreased from 49.0 points before the program to 43.9 points after the program. In addition, the mean value of emotional balance statistically significantly increased from 0.3 points before the program to 2.3 points after the program. The activity of drawing a picture after each session was effective in reducing depression and improving positive emotional balance by expressing emotions through pictures. The programs preferred by women with hearing impairment included 'making plum pickles,' 'making pressed flowers with hydrangea,' 'planting tropical orchids,' 'making a mosquito repellent spray,' 'making a natural herbal soap,' and 'making watermelon salad.' In conclusion, horticultural therapy programs were effective in reducing depression and improving emotional balance of women with hearing impairment.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.133-142
• /
• 2015

This study aimed to identify the exercise intensity associated with four common physical activities for adults (running, skipping rope, walking, and muscle strength exercises) and two horticultural activities (creating a vegetable bed and garden maintenance). For this experiment, 19 males (mean age: $25.8{\pm}2.3$ years) randomly participated in the activities at a glasshouse at Konkuk University. Each of the six activities lasted for 5 minutes; the subjects rested for 5 minutes during intervals between the activities. A portable metabolic analyzer was used to store the oxygen and energy consumption values obtained upon measurement of each activity. In addition, a wireless heart rate monitor was used to measure the subjects' heart rate. According to the results, the four types of physical activities and two horticultural activities carried out by the subjects are moderate- to high-intensity activities [i.e., $3.8{\pm}0.9$ to $9.9{\pm}2.1$ metabolic equivalents (METs)]. Running ($9.9{\pm}2.1$ METs) and skipping rope ($8.8{\pm}2.2$ METs) were categorized as high-intensity physical activities, whereas creating a vegetable bed ($5.0{\pm}1.2$ METs), walking ($4.9{\pm}0.8$ METs), muscle strength exercises ($4.5{\pm}1.3$ METs), and garden maintenance ($3.8{\pm}0.9$ METs) were classified as moderate-intensity physical activities. The exercise intensities of horticultural activities in this study were similar to those of walking and muscle strength exercises. Therefore, participating in these horticultural activities is expected to garner health benefits similar to those reaped from the physical activities described in the current study.

• 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.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.513-527
• /
• 2016

The objective of the present study was to review the current research about the outcomes of horticultural activity interventions in order to determine research trends and analyze the characteristics of horticultural activity interventions. We reviewed the literature using search engines such as the Web of Science, Proquest Dissertation and Theses, Academic Search Premier, Research Information sharing Service, and Korean National Assembly Digital Library to locate journal articles that include relevant search terms (e.g., gardening activity, gardening program, allotment garden, urban agriculture, horticultural therapy, and horticultural activity). We initially identified 14,414 journal articles that were published before April 2014 and selected 509 of the papers for review. We found that studies investigating treating children and adults 8 to 64 years old were the most common, and horticultural activities such as gardening outdoors, planting indoors, making crafts with live plants, arranging flowers, making crafts with artificial or pressed flowers, and other activities were usually combined. Short/medium term (11 to 20 sessions) horticultural activity programs were the most frequent, and most interventions were of medium duration (> 60 min to 120 min). Most of the studies focused on the psychological or emotional effects of horticultural intervention, such as its effects on emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress, and depression. Further studies are needed to analyze the research methodology, specific outcomes, and strengths or weaknesses of studies investigating horticultural activity interventions.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.170-178
• /
• 2022

Purpose: Gardening has been reported to have positive emotional and physical effects in older adults. However, limited studies have assessed this relationship in Korea. Therefore, in this pilot study of densely populated urban dwellers, we aimed to investigate whether temporary but repeated experiences of the natural environment could positively change metabolism-related blood indicators. Methods: This study used pre- and post-interventional designs to investigate the effects of 16 weeks of gardening on lipid profiles in an urban adult population and investigate their relationships. This study was conducted 30 times at the H Botanical Garden in Yongin City from August 16, 2021 to November 30, 2021 (16 weeks, twice a week, 3 hours each time). Before and after the gardening program, a clinical pathologist collected blood samples from the participants. Results: High-density lipoprotein levels increased, low-density lipoprotein levels decreased, and total cholesterol levels decreased after the gardening activity. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that gardening has potential for clinical application as it has good control over the lipid profile through physical activity. These findings can be used as basic data for studying the relationship between urban populations and their living environment and for various studies in the future as experiencing the natural environment provides many health benefits.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.123-128
• /
• 2014

This study investigated the exercise intensity and energy expenditure involved in two gardening activities (planting transplants and sowing seeds in a garden plot) and four common physical activities (running, skipping rope, walking, and throwing a ball) in children. Eighteen children aged 11 to 13 years (mean age, $12.3{\pm}0.7$ years) participated in this study. The children made two visits to a high tunnel in Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea and performed randomly selected activities. Each activity was performed for 10 min, with a 5-min rest period between activities. The children wore a Cosmed $K4b^2$ (Cosmed $K4b^2$; Cosmed, Rome, Italy), which is a portable calorimetric monitoring system, to measure indicators of metabolic cost such as oxygen uptake and energy expenditure. The children's heart rates during the activities were measured by radiotelemetry (Polar T 31; FitMed, Kempele, Finland). We found that the two gardening and four physical activities performed by the 11-13 years old children in this study were moderate-to high-intensity physical activities [i.e.,$5.4{\pm}0.7$ to $9.1{\pm}1.4$ metabolic equivalents (METs)]. Running ($9.1{\pm}1.4$ METs) and skipping rope ($8.8{\pm}1.1$ METs) were high-intensity physical activities, whereas walking ($6.1{\pm}0.9$ METs), planting transplants ($5.8{\pm}1.1$ METs), throwing a ball ($5.6{\pm}1.1$ METs), and sowing seeds ($5.4{\pm}0.7$ METs) were moderate intensity physical activities. Running and skipping rope were significantly more intense than the other activities (P < 0.0001). The gardening tasks such as planting transplants and sowing seeds in a garden plot showed similar exercise intensities and energy costs as walking and throwing a ball. This study indicates that gardening can be used as a physical activity intervention to provide health benefits similar to more common physical activities such as walking and running.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.51 no.3
• /
• pp.95-106
• /
• 2023

Korean healing research has developed over the past 20 years along with the growing social interest in healing. The field of healing research is diverse and includes legislated natural-based healing. In this study, abstracts of 2,202 academic journals, master's, and doctoral dissertations published in KCI and RISS were collected and analyzed. As for the research method, LDA topic modeling used to classify research topics, and time-series publication trends were examined. As a result of the study, it identified that the topic of Korean healing research was connected with 5 types and 4 mediators. The five were "Healing Tourism," "Mind and Art Healing," "Forest Therapy," "Healing Space," and "Youth Restoration and Healing," and the four mediators were "Forest," "Nature," "Culture", and "Education". In addition, only legalized healing studies extracted from Korean healing research and the topics were analyzed. As a result, legalized healing research classified into four. The four types were "Healing Spatial Environment Plan", "Healing Therapy Experiment", "Agricultural Education Experiential Healing", and "Healing Tourism Factor". Forest Therapy, which has the largest amount of research in legalized healing, Agro Healing and Garden Healing which operate similar programs through plants, and Marine Healing using marine resources also analyzed. As a result, topics that show the unique characteristics of individual healing studies and topics that are considered universal in all healing studies derived. This study is significant in that it identified the overall trend of research on Korean healing facilities and programs by utilizing LDA topic modeling.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.58-72
• /
• 2003

Rooftop greenery has been used as a way to solve urban environmental problems by creating green space in densely populated cities. This study was carried out to suggest more effective designs for roof-garden at hospitals through a post-occupancy evaluation. The roofgarden of Asan Medical Center was evaluated with regards to setting, proximate environmental context, users, and design activity by a multi-method including plan investigations, observations, in-depth interviews and questionnaires. The results are summarized as follows; the users' main activities included resting, walking, and talking. A number of users were observed at shaded spaces sitting on such things as benches, pergolas, and shelters. The satisfaction of the users showed high satisfaction level except in the amount of shade, facilities, and shelter. The variables affecting a overall satisfaction were ‘accessibility’, ‘safety’, ‘quality of surroundings’, and ‘suitability for speculation’. By comparing the design concept with using pattern, designer's intention was not reflected sufficiently in several aspects such as ‘event deck for therapy programs’, ‘grove and path’, and ‘low planters’. This study suggests some design implications; it is necessary to furnish shaded sitting places for passive behaviors and pathways for walking or a light exercise. A wind-break wall with glass windows could widen the users' views in a limited space. Natural shade like tree shade or pergola are more desirable than artificial shades. As for the vertical location of the roofgarden, the middle floor could be better than top area for accessibility. Characteristics of building and users should be considered in detail to provide distinct spaces. Proper technical standards for the greening of artificial ground should be established.