Group-based art, gardening show therapeutic benefits for women, study finds

Participation in group-based gardening and art demonstrated measurable improvements in women’s psychosocial health, according to results of a study published in PLOS One.

“The cultivation of plants, gardens and gardening has been an enduring integral factor in our adaptive ability and well-being as a species,” Raymond Odeh, MS, of the department of environmental horticulture, University of Florida, and colleagues wrote. “Art-making, similar to gardening, is thought to be an innate behavior of humans, and both art-making and art therapy have been shown to provide therapeutic benefits.”

Odeh and fellow researchers aimed to test the hypothesis that participation in group-based indoor gardening or art-making activities for 1 hour twice weekly over a period of 4 weeks would provide quantifiably different therapeutic benefits to a population of healthy women ages 26 to 49 years.

The randomized, controlled trial included 42 individuals who were assigned on a 1:1 basis to receive eight 1-hour group-based interventions of either gardening or art. A total of 36 participants initiated the treatment protocol and 32 (gardening, n = 15; art, n = 17) completed the trial.

Several self-report psychometric assessments were conducted for anxiety, depression symptomatology, mood disturbance, stress, satisfaction with discretionary social activities and quality of life measures. Cardiac physiological data were also collected. Outcomes were measured at baseline, during the study and after intervention.

Results showed that both gardening and art-making activities resulted in therapeutic improvements regarding total mood disturbance, depression symptomatology and perceived stress with different effect sizes after eight 1-hour treatment sessions. Gardening also resulted in improvements for indications of trait anxiety. Based on time-course evidence, dosage responses were observed for total mood disturbance, perceived stress and depression symptomatology for both gardening and art.

However, researchers additionally found neither gardening nor art-making had an apparent influence on heart rate or blood pressure or resulted in marked improvement for satisfaction with discretionary leisure activities.

“We believe this research shows promise for mental wellbeing, plants in [health care] and in public health. It would be great to see other researchers use our work as a basis for those kinds of studies,” Charles L. Guy, PhD, professor emeritus in the department of environmental horticulture at University of Florida and principal investigator, said in a release that accompanied the study.

References:

Gardening can cultivate better mental health. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/958102. Published: July 6, 2022. Accessed: July 11, 2022.

Odeh R, et al. PLoS One. 2022;doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0269248.