Using indoor plants and natural elements to positively impact occupants of residential aged-care facilities

Accumulated research points to the therapeutic effects of including outdoor gardens in aged-care facilities, yet few facilities do so.
Space and financial constraints are the major barriers to including them.
Aspects of the indoor environment of residential aged-care facilities, such as they being too noisy, odorous, and lacking in warm interpersonal contact, with long hospital-like corridors help to define a sick role rather than create a home-like atmosphere.
This pilot study examined the effect of an indoor simulated garden installation in a residential aged care facility that included visual, auditory and olfactory stimuli.
Pre- and post-measures of residents’ satisfaction with their living environment and social engagement were analysed.
The results demonstrate that introducing elements of nature, such as plants, into the indoor environment is a highly affordable way for facilities to create a homely atmosphere and capitalise on the therapeutic effects of nature.

XXIX International Horticultural Congress on Horticulture: Sustaining Lives, Livelihoods and Landscapes (IHC2014): XII International People Plant Symposium: Horticulture and Human Communities

T.L. Scott, B.M. Masser, N.A. Pachana

nursing homes, long-term care, therapeutic horticulture, indoor gardens, biophilia, older adults

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1121.2