ISHS Acta Horticulturae 790: VIII International People-Plant Symposium on Exploring Therapeutic Powers of Flowers, Greenery and Nature
ROLES OF DAILY HORTICULTURAL ACTIVITIES IN PHYSICAL AND MENTAL QOL FOR ELDERLY ADULTS |
| Authors: | K. Yamane, M. Adachi |
| Keywords: | gardening, HRQOL, ornamental plants, vitality, mental health, physical functioning, volunteer activity |
| Abstract:
Amateur gardening is one of the most popular leisure activities for elderly people in Japan. This report examined the daily horticultural activity (HA) and the health related quality of life (HRQOL) scores of elderly adults. We made a questionnaire, which included 12 questions in reference to daily HA. In order to determine HRQOL, we employed a 36 item short-form health survey (SF36), which is a self-administered questionnaire and generic measure of health status. SF36 consists of eight domains; physical functioning, physical role, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, emotional role, and mental health. Physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) of the HRQOL domains were calculated. Elderly adults in a school of Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, answered the questionnaire and SF36 in December 2003. Among 508 recovered questionnaires, we analyzed 466 complete data (285 males, mean age=65.7; 181 females, mean age=64.6). According to the questionnaire, 49% of the respondents performed daily HA for about 30 min and 23% of them did that for about 1h. More than 75 and 50% of the respondents liked outdoor and indoor HA, respectively. About 75% of the adults decorated their rooms with cut flowers and ornamental foliage plants. More than 70% of the adults found life worth living in HA. HRQOL scores of the elderly adults in this research were significantly higher than the national average (50) in all eight domains, PCS and MCS. Especially, the mean scores of physical functioning and vitality were 54.5 and 55.2, respectively. Daily hours for HA significantly correlated with HRQOL scores of vitality (p=0.007), mental health (p=0.019) and MCS (p=0.005), respectively. Preference for outdoor HA correlated with the scores of physical functioning (p=0.02), general health (p=0.007) and vitality (p=0.019). Roles of daily HA in HRQOL for elderly adults were discussed. | |
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