Process and Outcomes of Horticultural Therapy for People With Disabilities

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Other)
• Overall Status: Completed
• CT.gov ID: NCT04917666
• Collaborator: (none)
• Enrollment: 50
• Location: 1
• Arms: 2
• Actual Duration (Months): 17
• Patients Per Site Per Month: 2.9

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Horticultural therapy (HT) "is the engagement of a client in horticulture activities facilitated by a trained therapist to achieve specific and documented treatment goals" (American Horticultural Therapy Association, 2012). People's interactions with plants, through goal-orientated horticultural activities in the form of active gardening, as well as the passive appreciation of nature, could be therapeutic to people with mental or intellectual disabilities in many ways (Eling, 2006; Parkinson, Lowe, & Vecsey, 2011). This study aims to conduct evaluation studies of HT group programmes for care home residents with severe mental illness.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Mental Disorders, Severe; Intellectual Disability	Behavioral: Horticultural therapy; Other: Comparison	N/A

Detailed Description

This is a randomized, single-blind, controlled study in which the outcomes of the horticultural therapy program is compared with a comparison group. Outcome measures were compared at Pre-intervention and post-intervention.

Study Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Actual Enrollment: 50 participants
• Allocation: Randomized
• Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
• Masking Description: The outcome assessors have no knowledge of whether the participants are in the treatment of control groups. They distribute and collect questionnaires from participants, and gave observation rating on the participants in both group.
• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Official Title: Examining the Process and Outcomes of Horticultural Therapy for People With Severe Mental Illness, Intellectual, and Multiple Disabilities
• Actual Study Start Date: Sep 1, 2019
• Actual Primary Completion Date: Sep 30, 2020
• Actual Study Completion Date: Jan 29, 2021

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Treatment Participants joined a 8-session horticultural therapy group program (60 minutes per session) over 8 weeks.	Behavioral: Horticultural therapy; A structured 8-session group therapy program, in which participants learn about plants, green spaces, plant-human interactions. During the program, the participants are guided by therapist to grow or take care of both indoor and outdoor plants, do small horticulture projects (like cooking, making drinks, herb projects).
Other: Comparison Participants joined 4 sessions of individual, parallel, and table-top activities of their own interest, e.g. reading, drawing, coloring.	Other: Comparison; 4 session of semi-structured and free engagement in activities of their choice. The activities that they could choose are mostly table-top activities which are solitary in nature, and does not require social interaction.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

1. Change in Mental Well-being [Pre-test, Postest (8 weeks from pre-test), Change from Pretest to Posttest is assessed]

   Chinese Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (C-SWEMWBS). The C-SWEMWBS uses a five-point Likert scale. The average scores for the scale ranges between 1 and 5, and a higher score indicates better mental well-being.

2. Change in Engagement in Meaningful Activity Scale (EMAS) [Pre-test, Postest (8 weeks from pre-test), Change from Pretest to Posttest is assessed]

   Engagement in Meaningful Activity Scale (EMAS). The EMAS has 12 items measured on a four-point Likert scale. The average score for the scale is 1- 4 and a higher score indicates higher engagement.

3. Change in Perceived Benefits of Horticultural Therapy [Pre-test, Postest (8 weeks from pre-test), Change from Pretest to Posttest is assessed]

   This is a opinion survey developed by the clinical setting to collect participants' attitude toward horticultural therapy. It has 7 items and participants are asked to respond using a five-point scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree". The average score ranges from 1 to 5, and a higher score indicates that the participant perceived the benefits of horticulture therapy as higher.

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 Years to 65 Years
• Sexes Eligible for Study: All
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Inclusion Criteria:

• diagnosis of severe mental disorder, e.g. schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder.

• age 18 - 65.

• care home resident

Exclusion Criteria:

• organic brain disorder

• difficulties in communication for joining horticultural activity.

Contacts and Locations

Locations

	Site	City	State	Country	Postal Code
1	Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Wong Chuk Hang Complex	Wong Chuk Hang		Hong Kong

Sponsors and Collaborators

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Investigators

• Principal Investigator: Andrew MH Siu, PhD, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

• Responsible Party: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04917666
• Other Study ID Numbers: HSEARS20191030004
• First Posted: Jun 8, 2021
• Last Update Posted: Jun 8, 2021
• Last Verified: Mar 1, 2021

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: No
• Keywords provided by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University: horticultural therapy; severe mental illness; care home residents
• Additional relevant MeSH terms: Intellectual Disability; Mental Disorders

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Jun 8, 2021