scholarly journals Effects of a Combination of Three-Dimensional Virtual Reality and Hands-on Horticultural Therapy on Institutionalized Older Adults’ Physical and Mental Health: Quasi-Experimental Design

10.2196/19002 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. e19002
Author(s):  
Tsung-Yi Lin ◽  
Chiu-Mieh Huang ◽  
Hsiao-Pei Hsu ◽  
Jung-Yu Liao ◽  
Vivian Ya-Wen Cheng ◽  
...  

Background Institutionalized older adults have limited ability to engage in horticultural activities that can improve their physical and mental health. Objective This study explored the effects of a combination of 3D virtual reality and horticultural therapy on institutionalized older adults’ physical and mental health. Methods The study used a quasi-experimental design. A total of 106 older adults from 2 long-term care facilities were recruited and assigned to the experimental (n=59) or control (n=47) group. The experimental participants received a 9-week intervention. Both groups completed 3 assessments: at baseline, after the intervention, and 2 months later. The outcome variables included health status, meaning in life, perceived mattering, loneliness, and depression. Results The experimental group demonstrated significantly improved health status (P<.001), meaning in life (P<.001), and perceived mattering (P<.001) as well as significantly reduced depression (P<.001) and loneliness (P<.001) compared to the control group immediately after the intervention; these effects persisted for up to 2 months. Conclusions This study verified the beneficial effects of a combination of 3D virtual reality and hands-on horticultural therapy on older adults’ health. These results could support the future successful implementation of similar programs for institutionalized older adults on a larger scale.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsung-Yi Lin ◽  
Chiu-Mieh Huang ◽  
Hsiao-Pei Hsu ◽  
Jung-Yu Liao ◽  
Vivian Ya-Wen Cheng ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Institutionalized older adults have limited ability to engage in horticultural activities that can improve their physical and mental health. OBJECTIVE This study explored the effects of a combination of 3D virtual reality and horticultural therapy on institutionalized older adults’ physical and mental health. METHODS The study used a quasi-experimental design. A total of 106 older adults from 2 long-term care facilities were recruited and assigned to the experimental (n=59) or control (n=47) group. The experimental participants received a 9-week intervention. Both groups completed 3 assessments: at baseline, after the intervention, and 2 months later. The outcome variables included health status, meaning in life, perceived mattering, loneliness, and depression. RESULTS The experimental group demonstrated significantly improved health status (<i>P</i>&lt;.001), meaning in life (<i>P</i>&lt;.001), and perceived mattering (<i>P</i>&lt;.001) as well as significantly reduced depression (<i>P</i>&lt;.001) and loneliness (<i>P</i>&lt;.001) compared to the control group immediately after the intervention; these effects persisted for up to 2 months. CONCLUSIONS This study verified the beneficial effects of a combination of 3D virtual reality and hands-on horticultural therapy on older adults’ health. These results could support the future successful implementation of similar programs for institutionalized older adults on a larger scale.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Chih Fan ◽  
Cheuk-Sing Choy ◽  
Chiu-Mieh Huang ◽  
Po-Sheng Chih ◽  
Chia-Chiang Lee ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Aging societies are of public health concern worldwide. It is critical to develop strategies that harness technology to enhance older adults’ mental health.Methods: This study aimed to explore the effects of a combination of 3D virtual reality (VR) and hands-on horticultural activities on the mental health of community-dwelling older adults. The study used a quasi-experimental design. A total of 62 community-dwelling older adults were recruited and assigned to the experimental (n=32) and comparison groups (n=30). The members of the experimental group participated in an 8-week intervention program. Participants of both groups completed before-and-after intervention measurements for outcome variables that included perceived self-esteem, depression, isolation, mastery and achievement motives, which were analyzed using the generalized estimating equation (GEE). Results: GEE analyses indicated that the experimental group showed significant post intervention improvements in scores for self-esteem (β=1.66, P= .015), isolation (β=-0.96, P= .008), mastery (β=1.04, P= .042), and achievement motives (β=1.30, P=.034) compared to the control group.Conclusions: This study found beneficial effects of a combination of three-dimensional virtual reality and hands-on horticultural activities on community-dwelling older adults’ mental health. These findings suggest that future implementations of this program on a large scale could improve the mental health of older adults. Trial Registration: The study was posted in the www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05087654) on 21/10/2021. It was approved by the Institutional Review Board of En Chu Kong Hospital and performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Chih Fan ◽  
Cheuk-Sing Choy ◽  
Chiu-Mieh Huang ◽  
Po-Sheng Chih ◽  
Chia-Chiang Lee ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Aging societies are of public health concern worldwide. It is critical to develop strategies that harness technology to enhance older adults’ mental health. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore the effects of a combination of 3D virtual reality (VR) and hands-on horticultural activities on the mental health of community-dwelling older adults. METHODS The study used a quasi-experimental design. A total of 62 community-dwelling older adults were recruited and assigned to the experimental (n=32) and comparison groups (n=30). The members of the experimental group participated in an 8-week intervention program. Participants of both groups completed before-and-after intervention measurements for outcome variables that included perceived self-esteem, depression, isolation, mastery and achievement motives, which were analyzed using the generalized estimating equation (GEE). RESULTS GEE analyses indicated that the experimental group showed significant post intervention improvements in scores for self-esteem (β=1.66, P= .015), isolation (β=-0.96, P= .008), mastery (β=1.04, P= .042), and achievement motives (β=1.30, P=.034) compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS This study found beneficial effects of a combination of three-dimensional virtual reality and hands-on horticultural activities on community-dwelling older adults’ mental health. These findings suggest that future implementations of this program on a large scale could improve the mental health of older adults. CLINICALTRIAL The study was approved from the Research Ethics Review Committee of En Chu Kong Hospital (Registration number: ECKIRB1090503).


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 592-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Bing Liu ◽  
Ling-Ling Xue ◽  
Hui-Ping Xue ◽  
Ping Hou

It is very important to estimate the prevalence of inadequate health literacy and determine whether or not health literacy level differences predict the physical and mental health status of older adults. A cluster sampling method was selected. A total of 1396 older adults were interviewed. Three instruments were included: the Chinese Citizen Health Literacy Questionnaire, Short Form 36, and Activity of Daily Living (ADL) Scale. The health literacy scores were very low (71.74 ± 28.35). The physical and mental health scores were all moderate. The ADLs was ⩾22, which suggests that the ADLs of older adults were poor. The major influencing factors of physical health include health literacy, ADL, alcohol consumption, household income, marital status, and former occupation. The major factors influencing mental health included ADL, former occupation, age, and smoking. Health literacy was associated with physical health, but was not associated with mental health. Improving health literacy could increase health management and health status of older adults.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Ya-Wen Cheng ◽  
Chiu-Mieh Huang ◽  
Jung-Yu Liao ◽  
Hsiao-Pei Hsu ◽  
Shih-Wen Wang ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND In Taiwan, which has one of the most rapidly aging populations in the world, it is becoming increasingly critical to promote successful aging strategies that are effective, easily usable, and acceptable to institutionalized older adults. Although many practitioners and professionals have explored aromatherapy and identified its psychological benefits, the effectiveness of combining 3-dimensional (3D) virtual reality and hands-on aromatherapy remains unknown. OBJECTIVE A quasi-experimental trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of this combination in lowering perceived stress and promoting happiness, sleep quality, meditation experience, and life satisfaction among institutionalized older adults in Taiwan. METHODS A total of 60 institutionalized elderly participants either received the combined intervention or were in a control group. Weekly 2-hour sessions were implemented over 9 weeks. The outcome variables were happiness, perceived stress, sleep quality, meditation experience, and life satisfaction, which were assessed at baseline and after the intervention. RESULTS Generalized estimating equation (GEE) analyses indicated that the experimental group showed significant post-intervention improvements in terms of scores for happiness, perceived stress, sleep quality, meditation experience, and life satisfaction (n=48; all <i>P</i>&lt;.001). Another GEE analysis showed that the significant improvements in the 5 outcome variables persisted in participants aged 80 years and older (n=35; all <i>P</i>&lt;.001). CONCLUSIONS This is the first trial to explore the effectiveness of a combination of 3D virtual reality and hands-on aromatherapy in improving older adults’ psychological health. The results are promising for the promotion of psychological health in institutionalized older adults. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04324216; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04324216.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Carroll ◽  
Louise Hopper ◽  
Aaron Mark Farrelly ◽  
Richard Lombard-Vance ◽  
Panagiotis D. Bamidis ◽  
...  

Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies are regularly used in psychology research to complement psychological interventions and to enable an individual to feel as if they are in an environment other than that of their immediate surroundings. A scoping review was performed to identify how AR/VR was being used with older adult populations to impact their physical and mental health. The review also sought to determine whether the terminology used in AR/VR research was consistent. The results show that 65 studies have been published in the last 20 years that meet the inclusion criteria (virtual/augmented reality) technology to impact older adults’ physical/mental health and wellbeing. Participants included healthy, physically, and cognitively impaired, and emotionally vulnerable older adults. We argue that over 70% of the studies included in this review were mislabeled as VR and only six papers included fully immersive VR/AR. The remaining studies use less immersive variants of virtual reality with their populations, and only one study made use of AR, which prompted the suggestion of a new definition for virtual reality. This paper also calls for an updated taxonomy of augmented and virtual reality definitions to address the lack of consistency found in studies that identify themselves as AR/VR when they are using less immersive technical set-ups, including displaying non-interactive videos on 2D screens.


10.2196/17096 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. e17096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Ya-Wen Cheng ◽  
Chiu-Mieh Huang ◽  
Jung-Yu Liao ◽  
Hsiao-Pei Hsu ◽  
Shih-Wen Wang ◽  
...  

Background In Taiwan, which has one of the most rapidly aging populations in the world, it is becoming increasingly critical to promote successful aging strategies that are effective, easily usable, and acceptable to institutionalized older adults. Although many practitioners and professionals have explored aromatherapy and identified its psychological benefits, the effectiveness of combining 3-dimensional (3D) virtual reality and hands-on aromatherapy remains unknown. Objective A quasi-experimental trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of this combination in lowering perceived stress and promoting happiness, sleep quality, meditation experience, and life satisfaction among institutionalized older adults in Taiwan. Methods A total of 60 institutionalized elderly participants either received the combined intervention or were in a control group. Weekly 2-hour sessions were implemented over 9 weeks. The outcome variables were happiness, perceived stress, sleep quality, meditation experience, and life satisfaction, which were assessed at baseline and after the intervention. Results Generalized estimating equation (GEE) analyses indicated that the experimental group showed significant post-intervention improvements in terms of scores for happiness, perceived stress, sleep quality, meditation experience, and life satisfaction (n=48; all P<.001). Another GEE analysis showed that the significant improvements in the 5 outcome variables persisted in participants aged 80 years and older (n=35; all P<.001). Conclusions This is the first trial to explore the effectiveness of a combination of 3D virtual reality and hands-on aromatherapy in improving older adults’ psychological health. The results are promising for the promotion of psychological health in institutionalized older adults. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04324216; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04324216.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 568-568
Author(s):  
Shoshi Keisari ◽  
Talia Elkarif ◽  
Giada Mola ◽  
Ines Testoni ◽  
Silvia Piol

Abstract The social isolation imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected older adults, and has impacted both their physical and mental health. The pandemic has led to an increase in ageism associated with poorer mental health and a lower sense of dignity, self-esteem and contribution to society. This cross-cultural study involved 24 participants from Italy and Israel aged 79 to 92. The aim was to develop a brief art-based online intervention to enhance the participants’ sense of dignity and sense of meaning in life during this time of crisis. The process focused on the creation of digital photo-collages that captured the participants’ values through three perspectives: their past experiences, legacy, and future perspectives. It employed an arts-based research methodology to explore the participants’ experiences by analysing their relationship with the artistic expression, the photo collage, and its creative process.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document