식물심기 원예치료 프로그램이 장애아동어머니의 스트레스와 부모효능감에 미치는 영향

Effects of Plant Planting Program on Stress and Parental Efficacy in Mothers with Disabled Child

The objective of this study was to examine effects of horticultural therapy program using planting on stress and parenting efficacy in mothers with a disabled child. As for the research method, we sampled 16 mothers with a disabled child living in U City and divided them into a control group (n=8) and an experimental group (n=8). The horticultural therapy program used various types of containers including shoes, stone pots, bark, moss, milk pack, and recycled goods, and chose highly viable, prolific and easily manageable plants. In planting, various horticultural techniques were used in order to stimulate the subjects’ interest and to help them acquire new horticultural knowledge and skills. First, among the sub-factor of stress in parents with a disabled child, the control group’s score of problems in the parents and family increased from 3.38 before the program to 6.75 after but the difference was not statistically significant. On the contrary, the experimental group’s score decreased significantly from 2.75 before the program to 0.88 after. In addition, the control group’s score of pessimistic attitude decreased slightly from 11.00 before the program to 10.00 but the difference was not showed statistically significant. The experimental group’s score also decreased from 12.88 to 9.38 but the difference was not showed statistically significant. The control group’s score of the disabled child’s physical disability and characteristics was constant at 9.63 before and after the program, but the experimental group’s score decreased significantly from 10.88 to 6.63. For parenting efficacy, a high score means high parenting efficacy. In the control group, the score decreased from 31.38 before the program to 30.00 after and the difference was not showed significant, and in the experimental group, parenting efficacy was improved from 29.75 before the horticultural therapy program to 31.75 after but the difference was not showed significant. As presented above, when horticultural therapy program was applied to mothers with disabled child who were stressed by practical difficulties and restrictions coming from their peculiar situation different from ordinary families, horticultural therapy was found to be effective in reducing their stress and enhancing their parenting efficacy, which indicates efficiency in their performance of their role as parents.