Purpose: This paper extends previous works to include the role of therapeutic gardens in the healing environment as an intervention for bettering the clinical outcomes of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, the positive impact of healing gardens and the innovative application of technologies with nature, for promoting cognitive rehabilitation in this particular patient population.Methods: Using ISI Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest Central, MEDLIN, Scopus and Google Scholar, a relevant literature search on the positive health implications of therapeutic gardens on Alzheimer’s and dementia patients’ in the healthcare milieu was conducted.Results: Health implication of therapeutic gardens on Alzheimer’s and dementia patients’ spans across physical, social, psychological and cognitive effects. Virtual reality (VR) technologies offer positive cognitive outcomes to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia patients.Conclusion: Therapeutic gardens should be extended for speedier recovery of other patient populations. Future directions in the design of healthcare gardens with a focus on patient experience are inferred.
This study aimed to ascertain the usefulness of music therapy as an intervention for reducing the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) among Nigerian students who were evacuated from Ukraine as a result of the Russia–Ukraine war. The researchers sampled 401 students who were enrolled in different degree programs in Ukraine but displaced due to the war. The researchers assigned 201 students to no music therapy group and 200 to a music therapy group. The evacuees from the music therapy group took part in 12 music therapy sessions delivered to them through an Internet-mediated platform (Zoom). The result of the study showed that before the music therapy treatment, participants in both groups reported severe anxiety. After the intervention, participants in the control group still reported severe anxiety (even though their score dropped slightly from 16.8 to 16.1). However, their counterparts in the music therapy group dropped significantly from severe to mild anxiety. During the follow-up evaluation, participants in the music therapy further dropped significantly from mild to minimal anxiety. In contrast, those in the no music therapy slightly dropped to moderate anxiety disorder. The implications of these results on the field of music as a public health tool have been explored.
Summary
This study was a quasi-experimental design that was aimed at understanding the impact of interactive television-based art therapy for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among school children who have experienced abduction. Participants took part in a 12-week art therapy delivered through interactive television. The result showed that art therapy was effective in reducing PTSD symptoms. A follow-up assessment after 6 months showed a steady decline in PTSD symptoms among participants in the treatment group when compared with their counterparts in the non-treatment group. The implications of these results have been discussed and recommendations made.
This study experimented the effect of using visual multimedia intervention to improve users’ social media literacy skills to combat fake news. We carried out a quasi-experiment in one public university in Nigeria and randomly divided 470 participants into equal parts to form a control and experimental group. The respondents in the experimental group were exposed to 8 weeks of training using visual multimedia to improve their social media literacy skills to fight fake news. We realised that those exposed to social media literacy skills training via visual multimedia demonstrated a better knowledge of social media, better recognition of fake news, a higher tendency to verify information and a lesser inclination to share false news. Implications for research and practice were discussed.
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