Effectiveness of horticultural therapy: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials

• Published in: Complementary therapies in medicine Vol. 22; no. 5; pp. 930 - 943
• Main Authors: Kamioka, Hiroharu, Tsutani, Kiichiro, Yamada, Minoru, Park, Hyuntae, Okuizumi, Hiroyasu, Honda, Takuya, Okada, Shinpei, Park, Sang-Jun, Kitayuguchi, Jun, Abe, Takafumi, Handa, Shuichi, Mutoh, Yoshiteru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scotland Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2014; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Behavior; Clinical trials; Dementia; Drug therapy; Garden therapy; Horticultural Therapy; Horticulture; Hospitals; Humans; Internal Medicine; Medical Education; Older people; Randomized controlled trial; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Rehabilitation; Rehabilitation effect; Research Design; Schizophrenia; Studies; Systematic review; Therapeutic horticulture; Treatment Outcome; Japan; Therapeutic horticulture; Rehabilitation effect; Horticultural therapy; Randomized controlled trial; Garden therapy
• ISSN: 0965-2299; 1873-6963
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ctim.2014.08.009

Highlights • This is the first systematic review of the effectiveness of horticultural therapy (HT) based on randomized controlled trials. • Our study is unique because it summarized the evidence for each target disease according to the International Classification of Diseases-10. • There was insufficient evidence in the studies of HT due to poor methodological and reporting quality and heterogeneity. • HT may be an effective treatment for mental and behavioral disorders such as dementia, schizophrenia, depression, and terminal-care for cancer.