Health Benefits of Gardening
Condition: Anxiety; Depression; Healthy; Mood Disturbance; Stress; Quality of Life; Physical Activity; Social Interaction
MeSH terms: Depression
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The objective of the research is to test the hypothesis that participating in group-based
      gardening or group-based art activities may alter the mental health and cardiac physiological
      status of a wellness population of women ages 26-49. Assessment of the effects of gardening
      or art activities on the experimental population will take two approaches, the first being
      the use of physiological measurements of heart rate and blood pressure. The second approach
      will employ six widely used and well-established self-reported assessment instruments that
      will capture information about the health and well-being of participants. These measurements
      and assessments will provide a psychometrically-based before and after mental health status
      and between treatments health summaries of the participants in the gardening group and those
      engaged in the art group activities.
    

Detailed description: 
      The goal of this project is to better understand how interacting and working with plants in a
      group gardening activities program in a greenhouse, or a group art program that takes place
      indoors and is devoid of images or depictions of plants influences the overall health and
      well-being of participants.

      A total anticipated study population (N = 40) will consist of up to 20 healthy women randomly
      assigned to the art activities group, and up to 20 healthy women assigned to the gardening
      group. There will be measurements of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and
      psychometric assessments including satisfaction of social activities at baseline and post
      intervention. Heart rate and blood pressure measurements will be taken at the beginning and
      end of each of the eight gardening or arts sessions. Psychometric assessments of study
      participants will be conducted at baseline and post-intervention. Each treatment group will
      be divided into two smaller groups of up to ten women each that will receive the gardening or
      art interventions on different days of the week. The participants in the gardening or art
      groups will receive an experimental intervention consisting of 8 gardening or art sessions,
      each approximately 60 minutes in duration over a four week treatment period. Gardening and
      art sessions will take place at the same time of day twice each week, and follow a
      standardized programming sequence to ensure equivalency of intervention across all sessions.
      Ambient environmental conditions in the greenhouse during the gardening sessions will be
      monitored and recorded. The gardening activities will emphasize growing plants from seeds,
      plant propagation techniques, transplanting, and plant-mediated taste, visual, olfactory and
      touch sensory stimulation. All gardening sessions will begin with a short educational module
      introducing the plants and gardening activities taking place during each session. Art
      activities will include papermaking, image transfer, visual storytelling, linocut
      printmaking, paper batik, mixed media collage, and sensation drawing, and begin with a short
      educational module of the activity.

      In addition to the pre- and post-intervention assessments and measurement, psychometric
      assessments will be administered for depression symptomatology, mood states and perceived
      stress at specific points during the gardening and art activities to evaluate any changes
      over time resulting from the interventions. Participant heart rate and blood pressure
      measurements will be made at the beginning and at the end of all gardening and art sessions.
    

Intervention name(s): Art; Gardening
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): Participants will receive a hands-on art activities intervention consisting of two art activities sessions each week lasting approximately 60 minutes each in duration for four weeks for a total of eight sessions. Art activities will include hand papermaking, image transfer, visual storytelling, linocut printmaking, paper batik, mixed media collage, and sensation drawing based activities. Participants will complete sets of self-report psychometric assessments before, during, and following the art intervention. Heart rate and blood pressure will be monitored before, during, and following completion of the art intervention.; Participants will receive a hands-on gardening intervention consisting of two gardening sessions each week lasting approximately 60 minutes each in duration for four weeks, for a total of eight sessions. Gardening activities will include planting seeds, bulbs and tubers, transplanting seedlings, vegetative propagation and sight, smell, taste and touch sensory based activities. Participants will complete sets of self-report psychometric assessments before, during, and following the gardening intervention. Heart rate and blood pressure will be monitored before, during, and following completion of the gardening intervention.
Other intervention name(s): Horticulture; People-Plant Interactions
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: Gardening; Therapeutic Arts; Therapeutic Horticulture; Anxiety; Depression; Mood States; Quality of Life; Social Interactions; Stress; Wellness