EXAMINATION OF OPTIMUM FORM OF HORTICULTURAL ACTIVITIES AT WELFARE FACILITIES IN RURAL VILLAGES OF JAPAN

The authors conducted the horticultural activities (HA) every month for one year at a welfare facility for aged persons in a rural village in Akita Prefecture, Northern Japan, to determine the optimum form of such activities at welfare facilities in the region.
Treatment program activities involved the cultivation of flowers, vegetable crops, rice and Chinese radish sprouts, making dried flowers, and so on.
A survey of client and staff interests in the activities was filled out by the staff members.
Cultivation of rice using plastic buckets as pots elicited the most interest of all the activities listed, while cultivation of flowers, vegetable crops and Chinese radish, and etc. elicited little interest.
From our results, we concluded that the cultivation of rice using plastic buckets brought back earlier memories in the elderly clients because most of them had earlier experiences cultivating rice as farmers in the village in Akita Prefecture.
Currently, the main form of horticultural therapy (HT) performed in Japan is gardening as in Europe, Canada, and the USA. We suggest that HA at welfare facilities be designed in consideration of the specific nature of the clients of each district.

VIII International People-Plant Symposium on Exploring Therapeutic Powers of Flowers, Greenery and Nature

H. Kanda, H. Takahashi, Y. Yoshida, M. Kunoh

horticultural activities for aged, memory stimulation, culturally appropriate activities

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.790.33