Combining Virtual Reality with Horticulture Therapy for Shift Work Disorder among Healthcare Security Personnel

Background: Therapeutic horticulture (TH), as an adjuvant for mental health, attracts health care specialists to evidence-based therapy approaches. However, the effectiveness of plants as elicitors and in improving patient outcomes is still uncertain in practice. Hence, the study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of different therapeutic approaches for shift work disorder amongst securities with poor sleep quality. Methods: Sixty securities working in night shifts were selected for the study and 30 participants were assigned to the intervention group and 30 to the control group through pre-test post-test control design. The intervention and the control groups were tested for the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Inclusion of nature self scale (INS), the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Physical (Blood pressure, Heart rate), personal and psychological well-being. The horticulture interventions through combination of virtual reality, gardening, potpourri making, chamomile tea intake, aromatherapy and pot painting were provided for the experimental group. Result: The therapy has brought fascinating results in decreasing stress, improving the sleep and better well being of the subjects. The pre-test value for the Pittsburg sleep quality index indicated a sleep deprivation score of 13.27±2.38 during the pre-test and it has improved the sleep level with a post-test value of 6.10±2.23. The drop in blood pressure for the systolic/diastolic blood pressure from 138.30±21.02/85.13±12.59 (Pre-test) to 127.93±14.80/81.90±11.07 (Post-test) has been a good sign of therapeutic approaches at p less than 0.001. The values are also significant for personal and psychological well being and the subjective feedback results shows, among the therapies the virtual reality garden viewing followed by potpourri and pot painting showed higher rankings. Therapeutic horticulture being benign and non-threatening will undoubtedly expand and can take upon as one of the sustainable approaches in kindling the senses and improving daytime sleep for night shift workers.