本研究之目的在於融入團體操作概念所建構之園藝治療活動施予安養中心之高齡者的成效觀察。研究之進行透過跨園藝與諮商專業領域組成之工作團隊,邀請中部某一老人安養中心8位高齡者參與本研究,期間共進行12次共24小時之園藝治療團體活動。本研究方法採用非參與式觀察法以蒐集研究資料,資料蒐集焦點為高齡者於團體歷程中的重要事件及其互動情形等,以此形成觀察記錄,作為研究分析之文本,並以質性研究方法進行資料分析。研究發現居住安養中心的高齡者們在「口語表達、人群互動、認知能力、生活習慣、情感表達、興趣表現、機構認同及生命意義」等層面,皆有明顯朝向正向之變化。融入團體操作之園藝治療活動確實能觀察到對居住於安養中心中的高齡者們帶來改變之可能,尤其研究結合不同專業人員也為社區諮商之嘗試提供另項選擇參考。本研究依據結果提出相關建議供有興趣之實務工作者及未來研究參考。
The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of horticultural therapy which was integrated the concept of group counseling. In other words, there was a horticultural group therapy was conducted 12 sessions to change living state of 8 elderly in nursing home. The research data was collected by nonparticipant observations which were focused on significant events in group process and research method was executed by quality content analysis. There were some positive effects in this elderly horticultural therapy which were included verbal presentation, interpersonal interaction, cognitive ability, life habit, emotion expression, interest in horticultural activities and so on. Recommendations, limitations of the study, and implications for possible future research were included.