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S001-3

The Application of Therapeutic Horticulture to Promoting Psychiatric Day-Care
Attenders’ Mental Well-Being

Tsung-Hung Chen1, Shu-Jen Chen2, Chun-Kang Chao1

1Tsaotun Psychiatric Center,Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan 2Central Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Taiwan

Background/Objective: Alternative therapy for psychiatric clients has drawn more and more
attentions to its applications in the mental health field in Taiwan. Horticultural therapy is among the
concerns of mental health professionals. This study is to know the changes in psychiatric day-care
attenders’mental well-being after a therapeutic horticulture programme

Method: This project was designed as a quasi-experimental study. A group of ten psychiatric
day-care clients participated in the horticultural group, which was a structured and closed group, ran
for 90 minutes every weeks, totally lasted for 9 weeks. Pre- and post-tests were measured by the
Efficacy of Horticultural Therapy Evaluation Form in three occasions, before and immediately after
9 group sessions, and four weeks later after the group finished.

Result: During the 9 group sessions, the ten psychiatric day-care attenders performed structured
horticultural activities for 13.5 hours in total. From statistic data, significant improvements were
found, including limbic movements, interest satisfaction, mental relaxation, sense of achievement
and interpersonal relationship. From group members’ feedback, it was known that: physical exercises
were increased; daily mood was good after seeing the beautiful garden; a sense of achievement was
gained.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that the horticultural group activities can bring psychiatric day-care
clients improvements on their mental well-being. Thus, it is suggested to integrate therapeutic
horticultural groups into continuous services provided by a day-care unit, so that, hopefully, the
psychiatric clients’mental well-being could be promoted and their negative symptoms could be
improved.

Reference: Liu, Y., Bo, L., Sampson, S., Roberts, S., Zhang, G., & Wu, W. (2014). Horticultural
therapy for schizophrenia. The Cochrane Database Of Systematic Reviews, 5CD009413.
doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009413.pub2
Whear, R., Coon, J. T., Bethel, A., Abbott, R., Stein, K., & Garside, R. (2014). What Is the Impact of
Using Outdoor Spaces Such as Gardens on the Physical and Mental Well-Being of Those With
Dementia? A Systematic Review of Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence. Journal Of The American
Medical Directors Association, 15(10), 697-705. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2014.05.013