Program of "Recovery Garden-- 愛家園" add value to the Qualtiy of Living of service users & carers in Psychogeriatric Day Hospital, KH

Abstract Description

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Authors (including presenting author) :

Leung ML (1),Ho CMC(1), Kou SH(1), Lee YM (1)

Affiliation :

(1) Psychogeriatric Day Hospital, Kowloon Hospital

Introduction :

Most of our service users had experience on Horticultural & Gardening activities when they were young. They were interested in nurturing plants & felt naturally connected to it. More concrete idea of creating gardening activities was brought up in the Service User Forum in PGDH after they had more outdoor activities, especially the visit to南蓮苑池, was an impressive & pleasant trip in 2017. According to (Jarrot 2002) Gardening creates a sense of purpose, it is a rewarding activities allows people to take responsibility, experience success & build up confidence & further improve their quality of living. Bright idea of partnership program initiated by service users & carers was respected & its therapeutic benefits was valued. To strive for desirable outcomes, Strength based perspective with Recovery approach was adopted. Evaluation of program would observe the correlation of its effect on “Happiness Index” to improving quality of living of service users & reduction of carer stress.

Objectives :

-- Flexibly adopts “the Recovery Concept” to convey the sense of being accepted, respected to the service users --Incorporated with Strength based perspective to restore & develop potential talent/interest of service users on tasks on gardening activities to enhance self-confidence & self- validation -- Promote social interaction & pleasant experience on the partnership program to service users to further improving the well-being & their quality of living -- Promote Family Connection & Engagement as in line with the department's mental health promotion in 2018 “Love & Home” as well as to reduce carer stress -- With the desirable therapeutic effect of the “Recovery Garden”, may consider to extend the program to other clinical service so that more service users can enjoy the therapeutic benefits

Methodology :

“Recovery Garden--愛家園” was a small garden in PGDH where a variety of evergreen potted plants & delicate preference flowers of service users. It was elegantly furnished & atmosphere was relaxed & comfortable. “Naming Competition” of Garden to enhance program promotion. With Strength based perspective, facilitate service users to restore & develop their potential talent on planting work. Friends of Gardens, Garden Ambassadors were their favorable choices of duty by which they could enjoy different experiences, sharing fun of planting, exerting their ability in all aspects. There were also choices of different floral interests: gardening manual creation, sing-along appreciation, mindfulness tea gathering (茶禪)… Furthermore, "愛苗傳萬家” 行動 was promoted as in line with Mental Health promotion of the department 2018 "Home & Love 家⊙(點)愛". Hoping that service users could inherit the idea of "small love seedlings planted at home". Brought the message of “love” home, to build a sweet home.

Result & Outcome :

Caring & nurturing plants provided a sense of responsibility, an appreciation for nature & other living things that could enhance compassion & improve interpersonal relationship. Attendance of service users to PGDH was stable & high. Through active participation, they had pleasant experience with improve self-worth. As they could self-determine & control the pace of life, they could enjoy leisure & widen social circle that was reflected in the “Happiness Index” & expressed quality of living was improved. "愛苗傳萬家” 行動 had connected & engaged with family, “Zarit Burden Interview” showed that carer stress was reduced & home atmosphere was relaxed. Besides, Opening Ceremony & Presentation award to “Friends of Garden” & “Garden Ambassadors” to appreciate their effort & support was held in Oct 2018. Horticultural talks by experts & visit to ”慈山寺”, “復康花園” in early 2019 had enlightened them with great fun. Conclusion: “More connection to the nature, better well-being & quality of living”.