Jornal de Trauma e Tratamento

The Psychological Changes of Horticultural Therapy Intervention for Elderly Women of Earthquake-Related Areas

Abstract

Yuka Kotozaki

Despite the passage of time, some people who experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake are still living with the emotional trauma and stress. We provided horticultural therapy as an intervention to 39 elderly women with earthquake stress living in the affected areas of the coastal areas of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The participants were divided into two groups, an intervention group (n=20) and a control group (n=19). The intervention group underwent eight weeks of horticultural intervention. On the other hands, the control group underwent eight weeks of stress control education. After two months of horticultural therapy intervention, the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) total score, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) score, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-J) score, and the WHO Quality of Life 26 (WHO-QOL26) score in the intervention group improved significantly, and salivary cortisol level in the intervention group also improved significantly. After follow up, CAPS score, GDS score, PTGI-J score, and WHO-QOL26 score (psychological QOL score, social QOL score, environmental QOL score, and global QOL score), and salivary cortisol level in the intervention group was improved or almost the same as the post-intervention scores in the intervention group. These findings suggest that horticultural therapy has an effect on the symptoms of earthquake stress in elderly women, and that this effect may sustain.