TITLE:
Long-Term Active and Passive Horticultural Therapy Intervention for Elderly Patients with Moderate Dementia and AI Analysis of Medical Records and Care Documents
AUTHORS:
Seigo Koura, Chieko Nishikawa, Tomohiro Inagaki, Akiko Ikeda, Takeshi Oshikawa, Shinya Matsutani, Risa Semba, Yusuke Kumura, Kentaro Higashi
KEYWORDS:
Dementia, MCI, Hand Care Treatment, Prevention, Covid-19, KH Coder3
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation,
Vol.11 No.1,
February
8,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: Previous studies have shown that Hand Care
Treatment, a form of passive horticultural therapy, is effective in preventing
dementia and MCI and reducing the rate of progression. Due to the Covid-19
pandemic, various activity restrictions were implemented in Japan from
March 2020, and the number of elderly people without care and rehabilitation
will the number of elderly people without care and rehabilitation has been
increasing. Purpose: Progression of
cognitive, physical, and mental disability was examined for long-term
horticultural therapy study subjects by level of care required. Methods: One subject who had been diagnosed with dementia and was residing in an elderly
care facility and consented
to a long-term study was selected. In addition to assessments using various
evaluation forms, data recorded from time to time, including changes in care
plans, were analyzed using text mining methods. Results: This subject
tended to progress slowly from 1 to 2 care needs, but progressed from 3 to 5
care needs over a 2-year period. The results of the assessment chart test
showed that cognitive impairment and IADL decreased
with each increase in the level of care required, but DBD remained the same at
the time of admission, even at 5 years of care required. A comparison of
HCT and aroma intervention with and without aroma intervention during the nursing care level 1 showed that the
improvement in physical, mental, and cognitive function was expected to be
higher at the time of intervention. Text-mining inspections have revealed that
during the period of nursing care level 1 - 5, active horticultural
therapy techniques, and passive horticultural therapy techniques such as HCT
and brain rejuvenation aromatherapy were found to betweenness centrality with
each other. Conclusion: From the results of mean score of DBD, although
the nursing care level has progressed from 1 to a maximum of 5, it can be
concluded that the burden of care has not become heavier. There was no tendency
for the progression of cognitive impairment in this subject to be faster than
in the general AD population, despite the influences of Covid-19. The results indicated
that caregiving techniques and active and passive horticultural therapy
techniques in Japanese welfare facilities for the elderly are expected to be
effective in preventing the progression of cognitive impairment.