An Evaluation of Horticultural Therapy in Brain Injury Rehabilitation

Researcher: Pat Williams, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University
Summary: The major goal of this study is to evaluate whether the brain injury industry should adopt greater use of horticultural therapy programs for individuals with brain injury. The objectives set up to accomplish this goal are as follows:
1. Evaluate individual's premorbid history, status after initial injury, acute hospitalization treatment and the post-acute time period before starting rehabilitation to establish feasibility of success in prevocational training.
2. Assess individual's residential rehabilitation progress to formulate an entrance level functional rating to begin prevocational training.
3. Survey brain injury facilities to determine criteria success standards for rehabilitation treatment.
4. Compare components of horticultural therapy programs against industry standards for (pre) vocational training programs.
5. Evaluate horticultural therapy programs, including those with prevocational training components, to assess consistency of subjective treatment scales.
6. Create and evaluate a time-efficient evaluation tool to assess individual progress in horticultural therapy programs.

Research abstract courtesy of Pat Williams

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