The impact of gardening on well-being, mental health, and quality of life: an umbrella review and meta-analysis

Urban Farm DB summary

An umbrella review and meta-analysis comparing prior reviews of diverse gardening interventions, including home, allotment, community, and therapeutic gardening. Synthesizing 40 studies, it finds a significant positive effect of gardening and horticultural therapy on well-being, quality of life, and health status.

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• 40

  reviews included(gardening)

  Healthn = 40

  study design

  umbrella-review

  search cutoff

  2022-12

  composition

  10 interventional, 2 observational, 28 mixed

• 10

  interventional studies included(gardening)

  Healthn = 40

  study design

  umbrella-review

• 2

  observational studies included(gardening)

  Healthn = 40

  study design

  umbrella-review

• 28

  mixed studies included(gardening)

  Healthn = 40

  study design

  umbrella-review

• 0.55↑ IncreaseStatistically significant

  wellbeing effect size(gardening and horticultural therapy)

  Health

  study design

  random-effect-meta-analysis

  ci 95

  0.23 to 0.87

  p reported

  p < 0.001

  outcome

  well-being

• 0.23–0.87Statistically significant

  wellbeing effect size ci95(gardening and horticultural therapy)

  Health

  study design

  random-effect-meta-analysis

  outcome

  well-being

Direction of conclusions

Each author conclusion is recorded only as a coded direction per topic. Read the original for the conclusion itself.

• Mental healthSupportsWith caveats

BACKGROUND: Gardening and horticultural therapy (HT) has been widely recognised as a multicomponent approach that has affected a broad range of health and well-being outcomes. The aim of this umbrella review and meta-analysis was to compare the findings of previous reviews on the impact of multiple gardening interventions and gardening attributes on different well-being constructs. METHODS: Electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to December 2022. Interventional and observational reviews were eligible for inclusion in this umbrella review. Outcome measures included mental well-being, health status and quality of life. The key exposure variables were gardening and horticultural therapy. Narrative synthesis was used to evaluate the overall impact of gardening and HT on study outcomes. For a subsample of studies with available quantitative data, a random effect meta-analysis was conducted. RESULTS: This umbrella review included 40 studies (10 interventional studies, 2 observational studies, and 28 mixed interventional and observational studies). The reviewed studies reported an overall positive impact of gardening activities on several measures of mental well-being, quality of life, and health status. Meta-analysis showed a significant and positive effect of gardening and HT activities on well-being (effect size (ES) 0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23, 0.87, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Evidence from observational and interventional studies supports a positive role for gardening and HT activities on well-being and general health. Interventional studies with horticultural-based therapies were effective in improving well-being and quality of life both in the general population and vulnerable subgroups. The high degree of heterogeneity in the included studies cautions against any direct clinical implications of the study findings.