Horticultural Activity Interventions and Outcomes

Urban Farm DB summary

A literature review aiming to identify research trends and characteristics of horticultural activity interventions. Searching databases including Web of Science, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Academic Search Premier, the Research Information Sharing Service, and the Korean National Assembly Digital Library, the authors identified 14,414 journal articles published before April 2014 and selected 509 for review. Participants aged 8 to 64 were the most commonly studied, and interventions usually combined activities such as outdoor gardening, indoor planting, and crafts with live, artificial, or pressed flowers. Short-to-medium programs of 11-20 sessions were most frequent, typically lasting 60-120 minutes per session. Most studies focused on psychological or emotional effects such as emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress, and depression, and the authors call for further research analyzing methodology, specific outcomes, and the strengths or weaknesses of existing studies.