Approach of Horticultural Therapy Assessment: Validation by Using Awaji Horticultural Therapy Assessment Sheet (AHTAS) and Existing Measures for Evaluation

摘要

We tried horticultural therapy on the users of the Aged People day-care facility once a week for three months. As a new approach of assessment, we used the original assessment sheet (Awaji horticultural therapy assessment sheet : AHTAS) and examined the practical utility of AHTAS and the relation between AHTAS and the existing measures for evaluation ; QOL-D, MMSE, Vitality Index etc. AHTAS contains 10 questions. Items include 6 questions on mental issues, 3 questions on motivation issues and the remaining question on the issue of communication. All things considered AHTAS assesses the quality of life. After three months horticultural therapy we analyzed the data and recognized that the reliability and the ease of use of AHTAS resulted in a strong correlation between AHTAS and existing measures for evaluation. Our new horticultural therapy assessment method for the elderly using AHTAS and the existing measures for evaluation could give an objective assessment of horticultural therapy for the elderly that are experiencing problems with their quality of life, mental function, motivation and their communication ability. This study has also indicated that the use of only AHTAS could still assess motivation, mental function, communication faculty and the quality of life.