Horticultural Therapy Program Based on Health Care Education for Stress Reduction of Hypertensive Patients

Abstract

This study was conducted to analyze the effects of horticultural therapy program based on health care education on quality of life, stress, depression and anxiety of hypertensive patients, and to find effects on ability to control hypertension by continuing health care education and horticulture education. Subjects were 60 adult hypertension patients aged 30 to 64 at a hospital in K-gu, Seoul, aged 30 to 64. Experimental group of 30 patients received horticultural therapy program and control group of 30 patients did not receive horticultural therapy program. The horticultural therapy program was conducted for 60 minutes per session, twice a week, and total 8 times. This study was performed from 1. Aug. to 31. Oct. in 2015. Each session was based on contents of basic health care education and horticultural education. The programs were verified by 5 specialists in related fields (1 doctor, 2 nurses, 2 horticultural therapists). To prove effects of horticultural therapy program, patients' stress, depression, anxiety, quality of life and knowledge of hypertension and horticulture were estimated 3 times(before, after and 1 month after the experiment). SPSS (Version 22 for Windows) was used for t-test of independent sample, which analyzes demographic information and verifies homogeneity, and for t-test of matching sample which shows different effects between groups. As the results, horticultural therapy program based on health care education made significant positive effects on stress and quality of life of hypertensive patients. Moreover, the horticultural therapy program improved knowledge on horticulture and hypertension. However, there were no significant changes in control group. This result shows that the horticultural therapy program based on health care could relive stress and improve quality of life.