The Psychological Effect of Horticultural Therapy Intervention on Earthquake-Related Stress in Women of Earthquake-Related Areas

In this study, we provided horticultural therapy as an intervention to 54 adult women with earthquake-related stress from the disastrous Great East Japan Earthquake along the coastline of Miyagi Prefecture. After two months of horticultural intervention, scores on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Positive Affect (PA), and the Japanese version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-J) improved significantly in the intervention group, and salivary cortisol concentration decreased significantly. Although subsequent retesting after a two-month follow-up period revealed no major changes in CAPS or PANAS-PA scores or salivary cortisol concentration, there was an increase in PTGI-J score. These findings suggest that horticultural therapy has an effect on the symptoms of earthquake-related stress in women, and that this effect may sustain.