Horticultural Therapy Programs Enhancing Quality of Life and Reducing Depression and Burden for Caregivers of Elderly with Dementia

Abstract

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.

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

“…To begin with, as a result of applying horticultural therapy to participants living in or going to senior care facilities that are similar to the group of participants in this study, it was found that horticultural therapy alleviated depression and solitude (Chen and Ji, 2015;Chan et al, 2017;Yoon and Sung, 2017). As a result of conducting horticultural therapy on caregivers of the elderly with dementia facing depression due to various problems such as severance of social relations, it was found that the therapy alleviated depression (Kim et al, 2020). Moreover, according to Kim and Park (2018) who conducted horticultural therapy on middle-aged women, the therapy reduced depression and anxiety of middle-aged women and also promoted their ego-identity.…”

Geriatric Horticultural Therapy (GHT): An Approach to Geriatric Wellness

“…GHT could potentially be useful for reducing inflammation and protecting neuronal functions in healthy elderly adults by reducing plasma IL-6 levels and maintaining plasma levels (Ng et al, 2018). Horticultural therapy program on patients with mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia showed an increase in life satisfaction and a decrease in depression (Kim et al, 2020).…”

Effects of Gardening Activities on Parenting Stress and Mental Health of Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities

“…For the bereaved, the garden healing program conducted twice a week for 10 sessions was effective in psychological improvement including depression, anxiety, and lethargy (Na, 2020). A review of 11 studies regarding the psychological and physiological effects of gardens reported that the garden environment had the effect of relieving physiological stress and improving negative psychological states (Kang et al, 2020).…”

“…Studies of gardening and similar activities include: a systematic review of current research on the health benefits of a garden environment (Kang et al, 2020); a study on the effects of a horticultural therapy program focusing on gardening activities ; an analysis of the healing effects of forest therapy and horticultural therapy (Park et al, 2015); community gardening activities and their effects on mental health of residents (Jang et al, 2019). There has also been a study on the effect of garden healing programs on the psychological emotion of the bereaved (Na, 2020).…”