2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Health broadly encompasses well-being in physical, mental and social areas. Much of the extant literature in the area of horticultural therapy and people-plant interactions lacks experimental comparisons between gardening and other allied therapeutic modalities for any population. In this clinical study an active, concurrent control group was used to compare relative health outcomes associated with engaging in gardening and art activities. Treatment-based outcomes for perceived stress, mood disturbance, depression symptomatology, anxiety, quality of life, social satisfaction, cardiovascular and physical health factors were investigated using a battery of self-reported psychometric assessments and cardiovascular monitoring for a population of healthy women randomly assigned to gardening or art groups. Appraisal of the results from the four-week interventions provides evidence that tests treatment effect hypotheses associated within and between the gardening and art therapeutic modalities.