Effects of Horticultural Activities and Flower Tea Drinking Based on Reminiscent Storytelling on Demented Elders’ Cognitive and Emotional Functions

Abstract

This study was conducted in order to examine the effects of horticultural activities and flower tea drinking based on reminiscent storytelling on demented elders' cognitive and emotional functions. For these an purposes, the program was executed 35 elders divided four groups at the elders institutionalized at B Facility through 10 sessions during the period from 10 March to 14 July in 2015. As a result first, in the test of pretreatment homogeneity among the groups, no significant difference was observed among the four groups, so they were considered homogeneous. As to difference between before and after the program, cognitive functions were improved significantly after the treatment in the experimental group with both horticultural activities and flower tea drinking (p=.039). Among the emotional functions, self-esteem was significantly different in the experimental group with only horticultural activities (p=.040), the experimental group with only flower tea drinking (p=.005), and the experimental group with both horticultural activities and flower tea drinking (p=.024). Life satisfaction was significantly different only in the experimental group with both horticultural activities and flower tea drinking (p=.005). Ego integrity was significantly different in the experimental group with only horticultural activities (p=.011) and the experimental group with both horticultural activities and flower tea drinking (p=.005). Therefore, the experimental group with both horticultural activities and flower tea drinking were improved significant that all the items of cognitive and emotional functions.

A Horticultural Therapy Program Focusing on Gardening Activities to Promote Psychological, Emotional and Social Health of the Elderly Living in a Homeless Living Facility for a Long Time: A Pilot Study

“…As a result of comparing the posttest mean difference between groups, the control group (SD = 3.73) (p = .071). Such a positive change in self-esteem was similar to the results of previous studies that conducted horticultural therapy on the elderly, which is the same age group as this study, although not on the homeless (Jeong et al, 2006;Han et al, 2009;Kong et al, 2015;Lee et al, 2017). Moreover, the effect of horticultural therapy on improving self-esteem was also found in various subjects.…”

Meta-analysis of controlled trials testing horticultural therapy for the improvement of cognitive function

“…Of these, 36 full-text articles were excluded (including 19 without control groups, 5 that did not measure cognitive function, 7 review articles, 2 study protocols and 3 abstracts, resulting in 14 full-text articles that met inclusion eligibility. The final analyzed dataset included 9 articles 17 , 23 , 24 , 28 – 33 , after qualitative synthesis and feasibility evaluation of effect estimates which excluded 5 articles due to insufficient information for the evaluation of effect estimates. Krippendorff’s alpha was 0.95, indicating good reliability.…”

“…All included studies presented comparisons of demographic characteristics, socioeconomic, disease, or cognitive function to increase appropriateness of the control group to be compared with the experimental group. This study accessed the inclusion criteria of four included studies 24 , 31 – 33 (e.g. the criteria for inclusion and exclusion, and the reasons for exclusion).…”

“…In the measure tool of cognitive function, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is a common cognitive screening tool. Four horticultural therapy studies used MMSE to assess the outcomes of cognitive function 23,24,31,32 . MMSE is also a tool for cognitive outcome measure.…”

“…High-quality randomized controlled trials are scarce in horticultural therapy because they are the most challenging to design and implement. Evidence from available non-randomized, controlled trials have shown that horticultural therapy programs did not affect cognitive function 17,23,24 . One possible reason is that the sample sizes are small, and therefore statistically significant treatment effects are not able to be detected 25 .…”