A systematic review of horticultural therapy and urban agriculture interventions targeting depression, anxiety, and acute stress disorder

Urban Farm DB summary

This systematic review searched four bibliographic databases and identified eleven studies on horticultural therapy (HT) interventions drawing on urban agriculture practices for people with pre-existing diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or acute stress disorder. Six studies reported improvements in depressive symptoms, three found HT mitigated stress, and two reported a positive influence on anxiety, but more than two-thirds of the included studies carried moderate (n=6) or high (n=2) risk of bias with substantial methodological heterogeneity, and the small number of studies limits the generalisability of the findings; the review concludes that further research is needed to establish a robust causal link between HT interventions and improved mental health outcomes in this population.