Horticultural therapy, an empirical study

HORTICULTURAL: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY CONDUCTED BY A GROUP OF WOMEN WITH MENTAL DISABITY

Giovanna Lenzo Casa Santa Rosa Rehabilitation center “Daughters of Our Lady of Divine Providence” Saint Luigi Guanella Rome

OBJECTIVE investigate the activity of horticulture

verify its educational value

HYPOTHESIS Horticulture can contribute to the improvement of relational and social skills, to strengthening of fine and gross motor skills, to development of attitudes related to training work and to the reduction of behaviors problem.

ATTACHMENT THEOTY (Bowlby, 1969)

The relational skills are a further development of the basic motherchild relationship, therefore, can be fostered by the care of a living being.

THEORY OF BIOPHILIA

(Wilson, 1984)

The contact with other living beings makes a positive attitude towards the social context.

LEARNING THEORY

(Bandura,1977)

An activity, whether lived as a positive experience and therefore a source of self-efficacy, brings a greater self-control of anxiety and excitement, and more generally of behaviors problem.

The activity of horticulture , moreover, being a real physical and manual work scanned in steps and actions of various kinds can contribute to the improvement of the fine and gross motor skills and to the attitudes related to training work.

RESEARCH METHODS AND TOOLS

Evaluate relational, social, fine and gross skills, attitude related to training work and behaviors problem, before and after the activity using an evaluation board.

EVALUATION FORM

Each evaluation form (one for every skill) contains ten items: everyone gets a score from 0 to 4 based on the degree of mastery of skill observed.

RELATIONAL SKILLS

Start

End

He/She smiles, looks at others He/She responds to the smile, to the glance of others He/She greets He/She responds to the greetings He/She accepts the help of mates He/She accepts the help and the observations of educators He/She collaborates with the work group He/She sits near to the mates He/She accepts that the mates and the educators sit near 9 to her/him.

10 He/She establishes privileged relations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Sum of the results Percentages

%

%

SOCIAL SKILLS

Start 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

End

He/ She starts social interaction He/ She accepts social interaction began by others He/She shows affection toward familiar people He/ She gives little confidence to the outsiders He/ She respects and recognizes the authority (educators, director ‌) He/ She makes requests He/ She expresses dissent He/ She respects property of the others He/ She uses verbal forms of courtesy He/ She uses behaviors of courtesy

Sum of the results Percentages

%

%

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Start 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10

End

He/ She grabs objects with the hand He/ She grabs objects with thumb-index He/ She screws and unscrews He/ She threads beads He/ She uses the scissors He / She correctly holds in him/her hand a pencil He / She knows how to dose the pressure on a pencil, knife, fork ...

He/ She leafs through a book or a magazine, one page at time He/ She shapes clay, salt dough with his/ her hands He/ She moves small objects from one container to another

Sum of the results Percentages

%

%

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

Start 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

End

He/ She stands up from sitting on the ground He/ She walks alone He/ She goes up and down the stairs He/ She knows to throw a ball, directing it He/ She walks bringing a weight with his/ her hands He/ She follows a path without bumping any obstacles He/ She picks up objects from the floor He/ She can jump He/ She can be balanced on a foot He/ She can push heavy objects

Sum of the results Percentages

%

%

TRAINING WORK Start

End

1 He/ She is attentive during a work 2 He/ She respects the times imposed 3 He/ She is punctual / constant in a work He/ She emits a behavior appropriate to the 4 circumstances (to arrive, to leave‌) 5 He/ She finishes a work in an independent way He/ She adequately accepts changes in the environment 6 (position, tools ‌) 7 He/ She recognizes the right tools to the type of work He/ She uses different types of tools depending on the 8 tasks 9 He/ She asks instructions when he/ she is in difficulty He/ She carefully manipulates delicate and dangerous 10 materials

Sum of the results Percentages

%

%

BEHAVIORS PROBLEM Start

End

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Attitudes of rejection or denial Escape or avoidance behaviors Excessive anxiety Mood swings Verbal and/or motor stereotypes Difficulty to reamin still / sitting Presence of ritualisms Tendency to isolate himself/ herself, to hide or move 8 away 9 Use of offensive and provocative language 10 Aggressive behaviors

Sum of the results Percentages Difference of percen

% %

SAMPLE

(20 women with mental disability)

 7 from 2006 to 2009  2 from 2006 to 2008

 6 from 2006 to 2007  5 from 2007 to 2009

RESULTS (2006/2009) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2006 2009

RESULTS (2006/2008) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2006 2008

RESULTS (2006/2007) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2006 2007

RESULTS (2007/2009) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2007 2009

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

 B E H AV I O R S

P RO B L E M W E R E R E D U C E D B Y N E A R LY

30%  AT T I T U D E S

R E L AT E D TO T R A I N I N G WO R K R E L AT I O N A L S S K I L L S I M P RO V E D B Y O V E R 2 0 %

AND

 S O C I A L S K I L L S I M P RO V E D B Y A L M O S T 2 0 %  FINE

A N D G RO S S M O TO R S K I L L S A R E P E R F E C T E D , F I N A L LY, A L M O S T 1 0 %

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

• The skills less acquired improve significantly • The skills almost completely acquired before

horticultural activity improved to a lesser extent • Longer is the duration of participation in the horticultural activity and better are the results obtained from evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS

T H E AC T I V I T Y O F H O RT I C U LT U R E C AN B E S E E N AS A VA LUA B L E R E H A B I L I TAT I O N TO O L T H AT I N AN I ND I VI DUA L P RO J EC T M AY CO N T R I BU T E TO I M P ROV E L I F E QUA L I T Y O F P EO P L E W I T H M E N TA L D I SA B I L I T Y. I T C AN ALS O B E A CON C RE T E E X PE R I E N C E O F T R A I N IN G A IM E D TO P ROV I D IN G E M P LOY M E N T