Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service III (Projects aiming at quality service to patients and their carers)
Proposed Topic (Second preferred): :
Enhancing Partnership with Patients and Community (Projects initiated to engage patients / carers / community to improve efficiency / quality of care)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Cheng SY (1), Yau KS (1) , Chin LF (1) , Pang MK (1) , Kwan WM (1)(2) , Ho YC(1), Ho YK (1) , Leung CS (1), Chau YK (2) ,Lee SW (1) , Lo SK (1)(2)
Affiliation :
(1)In-patient unit , Bradbury Hospice , (2) Home care unit , Bradbury Hospice
Introduction :
In palliative care, the continuation of quality of life is the most essential. Horticultural therapy has been reported to be beneficial to both the physical and psychospiritual well-being of individuals by providing patients with healing effects through plants and nature. However, the use of horticultural therapy in palliative care settings is limited. The aim of “Life at BBH” was to improve the general well-being of patients and families in a humanistic approach through horticultural engagement. Thus, a sensory garden has been introduced to BBH since August 2023. The effect of this horticultural therapy with sensory gardens on palliative care inpatients was evaluated.
Objectives :
Examine the effectiveness of horticulture in reducing palliative patients’ levels of stress and improving their general emotional well-being.
Methodology :
This is a prospective study, using the DASS 21 (seven stress items) measurement tool to measure the patient’s stress level. The evaluation period started from 1 Sep 2023 to 5 December 2023. Patients in Bradbury Hospice who volunteered to join the program were recruited to this program. These patients were arranged to attend the sensory garden daily to view, smell, and touch pots of plants for twenty to thirty minutes, depending on their physical condition and tolerance, no less than four times per week, assisted by nursing staff and family members. Measurement was performed by the ward nurses on Day 0 as baseline and Day 3 for comparison. Paired T test using SPSS v27 was used for data analysis. Otherwise, after each garden visit, their general emotional well-being was assessed daily from Day 0 to Day 3, a custom-built 4-point Likert emoji figure after each garden visit. In the 4-point Likert emoji figure scale, point 4 represents the happiest emotions, while point 1 refers to the most depressed emotions. Furthermore, the patients and their relatives who had participated in the sensory garden program were invited to complete a satisfaction survey. Four items, including the atmosphere of the garden, the arrangement of the activities, the assistance of staff, and the overall satisfaction rate, were evaluated on a 5-point Likert scale.
Result & Outcome :
There were 47 patients recruited, and 32 were able to complete the 3 assessments during the study period. It was found that there was a significant improvement in stress lowering the level. The mean score of stress was 9.18 on Day 0 and 5.87 on D3 (The P value < 0.05). The general emotional well-being of these patients had also demonstrated an improvement by increasing the choice of the happiest emoji (score 4) increased from 40% on Day 0 to 82% on Day 3. There were a total of 32 satisfaction evaluation forms complete by families. To summaries, 90.6% of participants were pleased with the “Life at BBH” sensory garden. Families also expressed this activity gave them a good memory of family togetherness with the patients. This showed that the sensory garden was likely able to relieve patient’s stress and increase patient emotion/well being positively.
