Avendaño, Rica Marie A.

BSN 3C

LITERATURE REVIEW

How gardening therapy decrease the stress among elderly

The use of plants and gardening in therapeutic and rehabilitative activities is known as
horticulture therapy. It has the potential to improve the lives of the world's aging population
while possibly lowering the cost of long-term care, assisted living, and dementia unit residents.
According to preliminary research, horticulture treatment and garden settings can reduce pain,
increase focus, diminish stress, control agitation, reduce the need for as-needed drugs like
antipsychotics, and prevent falls. This is especially relevant for both the United States and the
Republic of Korea since both countries are aging at previously unheard-of rates, with Korea
seeing some of the biggest increases in old people globally. With few research using therapeutic
gardens and rehabilitation greenhouses, views of nature or indoor plants have been used in the
majority of extant studies using garden settings to support the use of nature as a therapeutic
modality in geriatrics.

According to preliminary research, horticulture treatment and garden settings can reduce pain,
increase concentration, diminish stress, control agitation, lower the need for PRN medicines and
antipsychotics, and prevent falls. These advantages play a significant role in raising the standard
of living for long-term residents of assisted living facilities and dementia care facilities while
also potentially lowering expenditures. Only a few research have used therapeutic gardens and
rehabilitation greenhouses, the majority of which have used views of nature or indoor plants. To
the best of knowledge, there are no controlled clinical trials establishing the favourable or
unfavourable effects of the passive or active rehabilitation of the elderly in gardens, despite the
lengthy history of horticultural therapy in a variety of therapeutic settings. It is past time to
provide a quantitative investigation of the advantages of garden settings for senior citizens.
Studies on the use of therapeutic gardens and/or therapeutic greenhouses may strengthen the case
for or against the advantages of garden settings for people with similar late-life and rehabilitation
needs, depending on the results. It would appear that there is an urgent need for intellectual,
cutting-edge research on this therapeutic approach for our aging population.

The mean scores for residents' quality of life went up by little over 10%, while those for despair
and agitation went down by almost the same amount. Interviews with residents, staff, and family
members yielded favourable responses, including observations that it had increased residents'
quality of life and decreased staff and family stress levels. In conclusion, qualitative and
quantitative pre and post studies show that a change in the environment, like a therapeutic
garden, can enhance the lives of people with dementia in aged care facilities and their
professional and unofficial caretakers.

Although the topic is currently understudied and underappreciated, there are encouraging effects
on levels of agitation in care home residents with dementia when they spend time in a garden. To
accommodate diverse people's interests and needs, gardens should offer a variety of methods to
interact, according to the findings' interpretation. Future study would benefit from a separate
focus on what causes gardens to be inaccessible in the residential care context, as well as a focus
on key outcomes measured in comparable methods. Learning more about these topics can assist
to make appropriate care experiences even better and more properly inform policy.
REFERENCES:

Detweiler M. et al. (2012). What is the evidence to support the use of therapeutic gardens for the
elderly?. Psychiatry investigation, 9(2), 100–110. https://doi.org/10.4306/pi.2012.9.2.100

Edwards CA. et al. (2012). An evaluation of a therapeutic garden’s influence on the quality of
life of aged care residents with dementia. Dementia. 12(4):494-510.
doi:10.1177/1471301211435188

Whear R. et al. (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 https://doi.org/10.1017/j.jamda.2014.05.013