• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.159-165
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of repetitive horticultural activities on the dexterity and out of seat behaviors of 5 years old children. Horticultural activities were conducted from March 3 to April 21, 2017, once a week for 20 minutes per session, a total of 8 sessions. The program was divided into first half (Sessions 1-4) and second half (Sessions 5-8) and horticultural activities were repeatedly carried out. In Sessions 1 and 5, kindergarteners transplanted succulent plants into pots, and observed and managed the plants daily. From Session 2 to 4 and from Session 6 to 8, kindergarteners watered and observed the succulent plants planted in Sessions 1 and 5 and they put flowers on a floral foam (10 × 10 × 10 cm). This study conducted the O'Connor Tweezer Dexterity Test in which the number of pins subjects inserted for 30 seconds was counted, and there was a significant difference (p =.000) in the dexterity of the kindergarteners after performing horticultural activities in the result of the repeated measures design ANOVA. The time kindergarteners left their seat for the first time while participating in horticultural activities for 20 minutes was measured using a stopwatch in each session. There was a significant difference (p =.000) in the ANOVA test in changes in their out of seat behavior in Session 8. In addition, there was no significant difference in the dexterity and out of seat behavior of kindergarteners from Session 2 (p =.364, p =.975, respectively) to Session 3 (p =.055, p =.283), but there was a significant difference from Session 4 (p =.042, p =.009) to Session 8 (p =.000, p =.000) as sessions were repeated.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.565-576
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• 2020

Background and objective: The elderly living in homeless living facilities for a long time suffer from various mental health problems. This study aims to determine the psychological, emotional, and social effects of a horticultural therapy program composed of gardening activities, which was designed based on the semantic structures of life for the homeless elderly living in the facilities for a long time. Methods: A total of 12 subjects (6 in the control group and 6 in the experimental group) participated in the study. The horticultural therapy program consisted mainly of gardening activities, and a total of 16 sessions were conducted once a week for 16 weeks, 60-90 minutes per session. The subjects were tested to evaluate their self-esteem, depression, and horticultural activities. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon rank test, and Friedman test, which were nonparametric tests, conducted at a 95% significance level. Results: First, in the case of self-esteem, a significant difference was found between the groups, 20.00 points (SD = 5.69) in the control group, and 25.50 points (SD = 3.73) in the experimental group (p = .034). Second, in the case of depression, no statistically significant difference was found in the posttest. Finally, in the case of the horticultural activity evaluation, the scores of most variables gradually and significantly increased during the program [Verbal interaction during activity (p = .006), Self-concept and identity (p = .006), Need-drive adaptation (p < .001), Interpersonal and social relations (p < .001)]. Conclusion: These results support that the horticultural therapy program could help the elderly improve psychological relaxation, emotional stability, and social relationships. In order to generalize the results, it is suggested to increase the number of subjects or conduct additional repetitive experiments in further research.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

This study analyzed user experience elements with healing game characteristics in eight horticultural games based on Lazro's theory of four fun elements, aiming to use horticultural treatment effects as basic data for horticultural game design. The games were found to be developed around "Serious Fun" and "Easy Fun," with "Hard Fun" and "People Fun" also included. Healing games including horticultural activities were highly linked to actual horticultural activities, resulting in horticultural treatment effects. Future studies will design horticultural healing games and verify their effects based on these results.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.255-268
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• 2019

Horticultural therapy, as a kind of complementary alternative therapies using nature as a medium, is an intervention method that can be applied to various subjects by utilizing horticultural activities that anyone can enjoy as a leisure activity. This research defined the resilience of individuals as a personal characteristic, and examined differences in the intervention effect of horticultural activities depending on the level of resilience. The results obtained in this study can be utilized in planning a horticultural activity program and setting the purpose and goals of horticultural activity programs. The subjects of this study were divided into the high resilience experimental group (Group A), the low resilience experimental Group (Group C), the high resilience control group (Group B), and the low resilience control group (Group D). The experiment was conducted in the campus of G University from September to November 2017, and the experimental group participated in the program once per week, a total of 10 sessions. The Korean version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, autonomic nervous assessment, and the interpersonal relationship change scale were carried out as pre- and post-assessment. Statistical analysis was performed using a non-parametric test. Group A showed statistically significant positive changes in relaxation of physical tension and stability. In conclusion, those with high resilience showed the higher intervention effects of horticultural activities on physical relaxation and stability than those with low resilience. However, there were some possible limitations in this study. Since the number of subjects was small and subjects were limited to college students, it is impossible to generalize the results of this study. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct follow-up studies to address and overcome these limitations.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.219-230
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• 2023

Calla lily is one of the most iconic and widely recognized ornamental plants. This study compared the extracts of 11 cultivars of domestic calla lily bred by the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science for their total polyphenol and antioxidant activities. Eleven cultivars were evaluated for their growth and flowering characteristics as per the Manual for Agricultural Investigation Rural Development Administration (RDA) form. The antioxidant activities were measured using 2,2'-azinobis (3-ethylbebzothiazoloine-6-sulfonic acid)-diammounium salt (ABTS⁺) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging effect. The plants have an average height of 63.80 ± 5.4 cm, average flower diameter of 7.2 ± 1.1 cm, and width of 12.4 ± 1.7 cm. On average, the diameter and width of leaves were 33.7 ± 3.5 cm and 20.0 ± 1.4 cm, respectively. Extracts of flowers and leaves in the 11 cultivars of white calla lily were compared for their antioxidant activities and total polyphenol contents. ABTS⁺ and DPPH radical scavenging, which are indicative of antioxidant activity, were higher in flowers than in leaves. When comparing by cultivar, we found that 'White Egg' showed the highest antioxidant activity in both the flowers and the leaves. Additionally, we found that by part, the content of total polyphenols was highest in flowers, and by cultivar, it was highest in the 'Swan' and 'White Egg' cultivars. Furthermore, the days to flowering showed correlations with ABTS⁺ radical scavenging, total phenolic contents (TPC), and total flavonoid contents (TFC). Our results indicate that calla lily can be used as breeding material material according to its growth characteristics and as a natural antioxidant source.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.513-527
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• 2016

The objective of the present study was to review the current research about the outcomes of horticultural activity interventions in order to determine research trends and analyze the characteristics of horticultural activity interventions. We reviewed the literature using search engines such as the Web of Science, Proquest Dissertation and Theses, Academic Search Premier, Research Information sharing Service, and Korean National Assembly Digital Library to locate journal articles that include relevant search terms (e.g., gardening activity, gardening program, allotment garden, urban agriculture, horticultural therapy, and horticultural activity). We initially identified 14,414 journal articles that were published before April 2014 and selected 509 of the papers for review. We found that studies investigating treating children and adults 8 to 64 years old were the most common, and horticultural activities such as gardening outdoors, planting indoors, making crafts with live plants, arranging flowers, making crafts with artificial or pressed flowers, and other activities were usually combined. Short/medium term (11 to 20 sessions) horticultural activity programs were the most frequent, and most interventions were of medium duration (> 60 min to 120 min). Most of the studies focused on the psychological or emotional effects of horticultural intervention, such as its effects on emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress, and depression. Further studies are needed to analyze the research methodology, specific outcomes, and strengths or weaknesses of studies investigating horticultural activity interventions.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.123-134
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of use of a horticultural program on the cognitive function, activities of daily living, and hand grip strength of institutionalized dementia patients. Method: Twenty three study participants completed a five week protocol comprised of one week of baseline and four weeks of treatment. The study design was a one group repeated measurement study. For the first and fifth week of the study period, data was collected with 3 instruments: Korean Version of Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-K), Katz's ADL index, hand grip strength. Data analysis was conducted by SPSS version 10.0. Result: Total HDS-K score(p=.000), Activities of daily living(p=.013) and hand grip strength(p=.001) was significantly improved after treatment compared to the baseline. Conclusion: The horticultural program was effective for improving cognitive function, ADL and hand grip strength of the dementia patients. Repeated studies utilizing a control group are needed, using various durations, plants and processes, to confirm these results and to standardize the horticultural program protocol.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.493-497
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• 2013

This study was designed to analyze the chemical composition of essential oil in 'Shiranuhi' immature fruit and to test their biological activities. 'Shiranuhi' immature essential oils (SIEO) were obtained by steam distillation from fruits collected from Jeju Island and were analyzed using gas chromatograph (GC)-flame ionization detectors (FID) and GC-MS. Fourteen components were identified in the essential oil. Limonene (75.21%) and terpineol (8.68%) were the major components in SIEO. Since acne vulgaris is the combined result of a bacterial infection and the inflammatory response to that infection, we examined whether SIEO possessed antibacterial against skin pathogens. As a result, SIEO showed excellent antibacterial activities against drug-susceptible and -resistant Propionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis, which are acne-causing bacteria. In this study, SIEO was examined on DPPH radical scavenging activities, which showed moderate antioxidant activity ($SC_{50}$, $15.36{\mu}L/mL$). In order to determined whether SIEO can be safely applied to human skin, the cytotoxicity effects of SIEO were determined by colorimetric MTT assays in normal human fibroblasts and keratinocyte HaCaT cells. They exhibited low cytotoxicity at $0.5{\mu}L/mL$ in both celllines. Based on these results, we suggest the possibility that essential oil of 'Shiranuhi' maybe considered as an antibacterial and antioxidant agent.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.411-422
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• 2020

Background and objective: This study was conducted to find out the effects of healing farm resources and participant satisfaction on the level of stress and loyalty. Methods: The experiment was conducted on 18 subjects who participated in agro-healing activities (aged 49.5 years on average) and the concentration of cortisol, the level of stress and satisfaction with the services and program of a healing farm. The healing-agriculture activities were performed once a week, a total of 7 sessions, for 90 minutes and their saliva was collected before and after the activities. Results: The concentration of cortisol, a stress hormone, was statistically significantly reduced after the healing-agriculture activities in 5 out of 7 sessions. The total cortisol concentration showed statistically significant differences. The 6th session was comprised of different activities, compared to others, such as understanding weeds, managing a garden and making a pizza with fermentation enzymes, and the level of cortisol in the 6th session was the lowest after participating in the agro-healing activities, which indicated that the activities have the positive effect of lowering the level of stress. The level of stress was lowered from 18.39 to 16.78, which was consistent with the results of the concentration of cortisol. The level of satisfaction in the last session was below 50%, which indicated that the owner of the farm might be a little inexperienced in education and marketing on information and safety. The variables of participants including stress and satisfaction with services showed a strong influence on their loyalty. Conclusion: Satisfaction with services and loyalty to the healing farm showed a very high correlation, which was statistically significant. It also showed that participants' stress level and satisfaction with the services and program of the healing farm have a strong influence on their loyalty.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.445-454
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• 2019

This study was conducted to find out physical changes in the blood pressure and saliva cortisol of patients with high blood pressure and diabetes after participating in agro-healing activities. The saliva cortisol and blood pressure of 14 males and females aged 49.79±10.48 on average were measured after participating in agro-healing activities. The saliva collection system was used, and their satisfaction level for the program was also surveyed. Changes in the values before and after participating in the agro-healing activities were compared and analyzed. The cortisol concentration, a stress hormone, was reduced from 6.76nmol/L before the program to 4.86nmol/L after the program, down by 1.9nmol/L, which was a statistically significant difference (z=-3.170, p<.01). In addition, the cortisol concentration was gradually reduced through the entire program from Session 1 to Session 7. Changes in the blood pressure of subjects before and after participating in agro-healing activities were examined, and the total systolic and diastolic blood pressure continuously decreased after participating in agro-healing activities through the entire program from Session 1 to Session 7. Their systolic blood pressure was reduced statistically significantly (z=-1.947, p<.05). Also, participants' satisfaction was analyzed and it was found that more than 95% of participants answered 'satisfied' and 'very satisfied' with agro-healing activities. Therefore, these results indicate that agro-healing activities performed in the healing-farm had a positive impact on the cortisol concentration and blood pressure of patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. In addition, their high satisfaction for this program seemed to improve the psychological and physiological conditions of subjects.