Effect of horticultural therapy on metabolism indices in in-patients with chronic schizophrenia / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To study the metabolic effect in in-patients chronic schizophrenia receiving horticultural therapy.Methods:One hundred and ten in-patients with schizophrenia meeting the criteria and signed informed consent at the rehabilitation wards were included.The random-number methods were used to classify patients into either the intervention group or the control group.The two groups both received normal medications while the intervention group alsoreceived horticultural therapy.The body weight and waist circumference were recorded at baseline,6 and 12-week-follow-up.And fasting blood sugar,triglyceride values were tested at the baseline,4th,8th,and 12th week-session.Results:Fifty-two patients of each group finished the evaluation.Covariance analysis results showed that the average waist circumference was much shorter in the intervention group than in the control group at 12-week-follow-up (F =13.98,P ＜ 0.001).When divided into 3subgroups according to the different drugs,after repeated ANOVA,the average waist circumference of the intervention group became shorter after intervention (olanzapine F =3.62,P ＜ 0.05;risperitone,F =4.46,P ＜ 0.05;aripiprazole,F =4.14,P ＜ 0.05) no matter what the antipsychotics they took.Conclusion:It suggests that horticultural therapy could effectively narrow waist circumferences in hospitalized patients with chronic schizophrenia whatever the antipsychotics the patients take.