Effectiveness of Therapeutic Horticulture Activities on Life Well-being in Community Elderly Person

• Main Author: 丁于倩
• Other Authors: 藍育慧
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/55197602745416785478

碩士 === 弘光科技大學 === 護理研究所 === 99 === As the averageage begins to move up in the society, Taiwanese community’s elderlies are facing multiple concerns on both mind and body, due mostly to decline in body functions, lack of socialsupport and no hope for the future. The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility for therapeutic gardening activities to improve living condition for the elderlies. Quasi-Experimental Design were used to collect data, sampling from elderlies who participles at care centers located around Taichung area. Using Purposed sampling, two care centers, a control and experiment group, were selected. The 55 elderlies in the experiment group were given therapeutic gardening activities once each week, 2 hours per session, for 12 weeks. The treatment consists of activities designed to help coordinate the elderly’s physical activity such as seeding, potting, watering, garden designing, harvesting and etc. These activates, grouped with experience sharing, helped bring up the sense of hope and socialsupport, therefore lowering depression level. The control group received no treatment. Measurement instruments were as the following: physical functional fitness at the 12th week of treatment, MMSE, Herth Hope Index, PRQ. The major finding in this study is that the experiment group, compared to the control group, shows significant improvement in physical functional fitness, sense of hope and social support, as well as lowering depression level. This study suggests including the therapeutic gardening activities in the local care center programs, in order to improve community elderly’s physical and mental social health.