ecancermedicalscience

Short Communication

Sowing the seeds or failing to blossom? A feasibility study of a simple ecotherapy-based intervention in women affected by breast cancer

1 Dec 2015
Ceri Phelps, Carole Butler, Alecia Cousins, Carol Hughes

Engaging in nature-based activities is recognised as providing the basis for easily accessible, cost- effective interventions which can have other important physical and psychological health outcomes. The aim of the reported feasibility study was to explore the acceptability and potential psychological benefits of a simple ecotherapy-based intervention for individuals affected by cancer. A total of seven women from an existing breast cancer support group agreed to take part in the study by cultivating and customising a garden bowl for three months, maintaining a diary, and participating in a focus group at the end of the project. The analysis of the focus group data revealed four main themes that suggested that the women found engaging with the intervention to be therapeutic on a number of different levels: reflecting their cancer journey, a source of positivity, making meaning through memories, and a sense of control provided by engagement with the intervention. Engagement with the diary-writing element of the intervention, however, was not as widely endorsed by the group, as participants were even reluctant to make use of an online forum to share experiences of engaging with the intervention. Overall, the study suggests that the flexibility of level of engagement with an intervention is an important factor in developing acceptable interventions, and that the value of targeted recruitment to improve engagement with novel interventions is paramount.

Artículos relacionados

Lia Pamela Rebaza Vasquez, Jaime Ponce de la Torre, Raul Alarco, Joseana Ayala Moreno, Henry Gomez Moreno
G Luis Pendola, Roberto Elizalde, Pablo Sitic Vargas, José Caicedo Mallarino, Eduardo Gonzalez, José Parada, Mauricio Camus, Ricardo Schwartz, Enrique Bargalló, Ruffo Freitas, Mauricio Magalhaes Costa, Vilmar Marques de Oliveira, Paula Escobar, Miguel Oller, Luis Fernando Viaña, Antonio Jurado Bambino, Gustavo Sarria, Francisco Terrier, Roger Corrales, Valeria Sanabria, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Agostini, Gonzalo Vargas Chacón, Víctor Manuel Pérez, Verónica Avilés, José Galarreta, Guillermo Laviña, Jorge Pérez Fuentes, Lía Bueso de Castellanos, Bolívar Arboleda Osorio, Herbert Castillo, Claudia Figueroa
Gloria Daniela de la Borbolla Martínez, Martha Elena Huitzache Martínez, Nicolás Padilla Raygoza