Benefits of gardening in long-term care
 Researchers from the University of Las Vegas in Nevada studied the impact of indoor gardening on elderly residents of a low-income assisted living facility.
First, the details.
- 18 residents participated in a 4-week introduction to indoor gardening that involved individual plant-care responsibility.
- The program included 4, 2-hour interactive horticulture classes taught by a horticulturist and a sociologist.
- Mastery, self-rated health, and self-rated happiness were measured before and after the program.
And, the results.
- The gardening group showed a significant increase in mastery, self-rated health, and self-rated happiness.
The bottom line?
The authors concluded, “Basic horticultural activity, as simple as learning how to maintain a houseplant and taking individual responsibility for one, can have a short-term positive impact on the quality of life and on primary indicators of future health outcomes of older adults residing in assisted living facilities.”
Everybody needs to feel they’re contributing and are necessary.
3/5/09 13:02 JR