This study was conducted to evaluate effects of indoor horticultural therapy program based on ‘relaxation - cognitive behavior - social support’ strategy on quality of life, stress and serotonin of woman cancer patients. Subjects were 18 female cancer patients. Experimental group of 9 members received a horticultural therapy program and control group of 9 members did not receive a horticultural therapy program. The horticultural therapy program was conducted, for 90 minutes per session, once a week, total 8 times. And this study was performed from 9. Nov. to 28. Dec. in 2015. As a results, horticultural therapy program made significant improvement in emotional condition among sub-category of quality of life, nervousness, depression and frustration among sub-category of stress. Also the program decreased the total stress score with significant increased level of serotonin comparing to control group. This result means that depression mood in cancer patients was improved. In summary, horticultural therapy program focused on indoor activities based on ‘Relaxation-social support-cognitive behavioral’ strategy could be utilized as supporting program for psychological health for cancer survivors.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of horticulture occupation therapy program via healing garden which is increasing the emotional stability and hand Dexterity enhancement on pre-vocational rehabilitation of chronic mental disorder. The current study included 29 patients who were diagnosed as chronic mental disorder under the rehabilitation service at E capital hospital in Seoul from February to December 2010. All of patients participated with agreement in this study, then were divided randomly by experimental (n=17) and control groups (n=12). Therapeutic program was consisted with total 38 sessions, and performed once a week for 10 months. Experimental group was treated with horticultural occupational therapy program using a healing garden (one time), as well as general occupational therapy (four times) in a week. Control group was conducted only general occupational therapy five times a week. To evaluate the effects of program, physical and psychological stress test and hand dexterity test was used before and after program. The program was based on the person-centered therapy, then paired t-test was used to compare the results before and after the program. In the results of present study, there were no significant differences of psychological and physical stress between before and after the therapy in experimental and control group, respectively. However, hand dexterity of experimental group was markedly changed between before (112..4±50.9 sec) and after (82.1±40.6 sec) therapy. Moreover, the speed of performance in GPT was increased with rising therapeutic sessions, indicating the hand dexterity was improved after program. These results demonstrated that horticultural occupation therapy program using the healing garden is beneficial for pre-vocational rehabilitation of chronic mental disorder.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of horticultural therapy program focused on indoor activities for cancer patients on post-traumatic growth and self-integrity. Seven cancer patients were participated. Experimental group of 7 members received a horticultural therapy program. And this study was performed from May 12 to June 30 in 2014. As the results, the sub-category of self integrity was not statistically significant, but total self-integrity level of the experimental group increased significantly after horticulture therapy (p=0.042). Post-traumatic growth level of the experimental group increased after horticulture therapy, but it was not statistically significant. Therefore horticultural therapy program focused on indoor activities could be utilized as an appropriate program for increase of self-integrity in cancer patients in future.

본 연구는 대안학교 청소년들을 위한 식물 윤리를 기반으로 한 인성교육 원예치료 프로그램에 대한 개발 및 적용에 대한 것으로 인성교육의 윤리· 도덕적 범주에 해당하는 생명존중에 대한 덕목을 중심으로 식물윤리에 대한 이론적 적용과 원예치료의 양육과 돌봄을 통한 생명존중에 대한 내용을 통합하여 프로그램을 구성하였다. 대안학교 청소년들에게 원예치료 프로그램 적용하여 자아존중감과 그 기반을 이루고 있는 자아 개념에 대한 인성교육 향상을 목적으로 하였다. 대상자는 대안학교 14세~16세에 해당하는 청소년으로 원예치료 프로그램에 참가한 10명과 참가 하지 않은 대조군 10명을 선정하여 프로그램 전·후에 설문하였으며 연구 기간은 2013년 9월 2일에서 2013년 11월 26일까지 원예치료 프로그램은 매주 1회씩 총 10회 실시하였다. 평가도구는 자아존중감 척도, 자아개념 척도를 사용하였으며 연구 결과는 다음과 같다. 식물윤리를 기반으로 한 인성교육 원예치료 프로그램의 실시 결과, 자아존중감과 자아개념 모두 실험군의 경우 사전에 비하여 사후 점수가 통계적으로 유의하게 증가함을 알 수 있었으나 대조군에 있어서는 유의하게 증가하지 않았다. 이에 본 연구를 통하여 식물윤리를 적용한 인성교육 원예치료 프로그램을 통하여 식물의 양육과 돌봄을 통한 생명에 대한 존중감과 가치 인식이 자신의 생명에 대한 가치 인식과 존중으로 확장되어 대안학교 청소년의 자아존중감과 올바른 자아개념 형성에 영향을 준 것으로 볼 수 있었다.