Search

Elderly patients living in long-term care facilities have been restricted from leaving to comply with social distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to a worsening of disorders, such as anxiety and depression. This study aims to understand the health benefits of an immersive garden experience to elderly nursing home residents with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairments. Virtual reality devices were used to provide immersive garden experiences for the residents who were unable to go outside. The heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) data of the participants of the participants were collected using biofeedback instruments, and changes in the low frequency/high frequency (LF/HF) and the standard deviation of the NN interval (SDNN) values caused by immersive garden experiences were discussed. The results show that the immersive garden experiences were beneficial to these elderly residents. Within 6 min of completing the experiment, we found that the heart rates of participants had dropped slightly, while SDNN and HF values continued to rise. SDNN values before and after the experiment demonstrated a statistically significant improvement. Furthermore, participants expressed their satisfaction with the video intervention program. The results indicated that nursing homes can provide immersive landscape experiences to help increase HRV and SDNN of their elderly residents. This will not only help these residents recall beautiful memories of their past, but will also improve their quality of life. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11355-021-00480-9.

The number of people with dementia is increasing rapidly worldwide. Developing strategies to improve quality of life for those with dementia is crucial and is receiving more attention. Natural environments are known for their healing effects on most people. This pilot study aimed to understand the benefits that natural environments, such as gardens, can provide for people with dementia. In total, 42 staff members in nine dementia care facilities were recruited as participants in this study and answered a semistructured questionnaire. One-way analysis of variance with repeated measures and the Mann–Whitney U test were used to compare the effects of garden visits on evaluated characteristics and the differences in evaluated characteristics between free garden use and unfree garden use groups. Data from open-ended questions underwent text analysis to obtain the principal beliefs of the participants. The staff members reported that garden visits had positive effects on mood, social interaction, depression, and agitation in people with dementia because of the multisensory, gentle stimuli of the natural environment. Of the evaluated cognitive characteristics, attention and orientation to time were improved the most after residents with dementia had spent time in a garden. Additionally, staff members in the free garden use group scored the effects of garden visits on the mood, long-term memory, language abilities, spatial ability, aggression, and agitation of patients with dementia as significantly higher than staff members in the unfree garden use group. Recommendations for future studies are discussed.