{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T05:55:36Z","timestamp":1790920536298,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790899200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Structured plant-based activities combine natural materials, purposeful manual work, sensory engagement, and social interaction, but direct comparisons of practical formats in community adults remain limited. We characterized short-term responses during two sequential sessions and compared within-session changes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Twenty-five adults participated in a single-group, fixed-order pilot study. Session 1 involved horticultural crafting; 1\u202fweek later, Session 2 involved balm crafting followed by horticultural crafting. Twenty-three attended both sessions. DASS-21 and STAI-S were principal outcomes; horticultural wellbeing, HRV, and forehead single-channel EEG were exploratory. Within-session changes and complete-case between-session differences were estimated with 95% CIs.\n                      <jats:italic>Post hoc<\/jats:italic>\n                      TOST examined exploratory equivalence bounds.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Both sessions were followed by favorable short-term psychological changes. DASS-21 scores decreased by 8.57 points in Session 1 [95% CI (5.41, 11.72),\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      =\u202f23] and 5.53 in Session 2 [(2.65, 8.41),\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      =\u202f17]. STAI-S scores decreased by 7.30 points in Session 1 [(5.23, 9.37),\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      =\u202f25] and 6.86 in Session 2 [(4.07, 9.66),\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      =\u202f22]; all four Holm-adjusted\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      values were &amp;lt;0.001. Complete-case comparisons showed no statistically detectable between-session difference in DASS-21 improvement [3.12 points, 95% CI (\u22121.51, 7.75)] or STAI-S improvement [0.34 points, (\u22123.15, 3.83)]. STAI-S changes met the exploratory TOST criterion only at the broad \u00b10.50 standardized bound. Horticultural wellbeing improved in both sessions; SDNN and RMSSD increased, whereas EEG findings did not remain significant after multiplicity correction.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Both sessions were associated with favorable short-term psychological changes, particularly reduced distress and state anxiety. These findings support the feasibility and potential value of brief, hands-on plant-based activities in community settings and provide estimates for larger randomized, counterbalanced trials. Given the fixed order and absence of a control group, the findings are preliminary rather than definitive causal or modality-specific evidence.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1962154","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T05:36:03Z","timestamp":1790919363000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Short-term responses across two sequential plant-based activity sessions: an exploratory fixed-order pilot study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Li-li","family":"Chang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yun-Hsien","family":"Ku","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chuen-Yu","family":"Chuang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu-Sen","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1575441","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2025.1575441","article-title":"How duration and frequency influence horticultural therapy\u2019s effect on depressive symptoms: evidence from a meta-analysis","volume":"16","author":"Chen","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"371","DOI":"10.1016\/j.explore.2023.09.009","article-title":"Kokedama and essential oils had a relaxing psychophysiological effect on Taiwanese women during the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"20","author":"Chung","year":"2024","journal-title":"Explore"},{"key":"ref3","volume-title":"Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences","author":"Cohen","year":"1988"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1352186","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2024.1352186","article-title":"Which horticultural activities are more effective for children's recovery from stress and mental fatigue? A quasi-experimental study","volume":"15","author":"Guo","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"818","DOI":"10.1177\/1420326X17691328","article-title":"Influence of passive versus active interaction with indoor plants on the restoration, behaviour and knowledge of students at a junior high school in Taiwan","volume":"27","author":"Han","year":"2018","journal-title":"Indoor Built Environ."},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1016\/0272-4944(95)90001-2","article-title":"The restorative benefits of nature: toward an integrative framework","volume":"15","author":"Kaplan","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Environ. Psychol."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1450","DOI":"10.21273\/HORTSCI17272-23","article-title":"Effects of cognitive demand levels for various horticultural activities on psychophysiological responses in adults","volume":"58","author":"Kim","year":"2023","journal-title":"HortScience"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"398","DOI":"10.6730\/JAAT.201208_13(4).0005","article-title":"The improvement of well-beings in college students through interaction with horticultural activities","volume":"13","author":"Kuo","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Agric. Assoc. Taiwan"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1177\/2515245918770963","article-title":"Equivalence testing for psychological research: a tutorial","volume":"1","author":"Lakens","year":"2018","journal-title":"Adv. Methods Pract. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1838988","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1838988","article-title":"Timing for green prescription: comparing the immediate and cumulative effects of different duration horticultural therapy programs on college students' mental health","volume":"17","author":"Liu","year":"2026","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref11","volume-title":"Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales","author":"Lovibond","year":"1995"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1086121","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1086121","article-title":"Horticultural therapy for stress reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"14","author":"Lu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref13","volume-title":"Psychometric Properties of a Chinese Version of the short Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS21)","author":"Moussa","year":"2017"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"513","DOI":"10.12972\/kjhst.20160053","article-title":"Horticultural activity interventions and outcomes: a review","volume":"34","author":"Park","year":"2016","journal-title":"Hortic. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"657","DOI":"10.1007\/bf01068419","article-title":"A comparison of the two one-sided tests procedure and the power approach for assessing the equivalence of average bioavailability","volume":"15","author":"Schuirmann","year":"1987","journal-title":"J. Pharmacokinet. Biopharm."},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"349","DOI":"10.1002\/1097-4679(199305)49:3<349::aid-jclp2270490308>3.0.co;2-j","article-title":"The Chinese version of the state-trait anxiety inventory: its relationship to different measures of psychological well-being","volume":"49","author":"Shek","year":"1993","journal-title":"J. Clin. Psychol."},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105081","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijnurstu.2025.105081","article-title":"Effect of horticultural activities on reducing depressive symptoms in community-dwelling adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"168","author":"Sin","year":"2025","journal-title":"Int. J. Nurs. Stud."},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pmedr.2016.11.007","article-title":"Gardening is beneficial for health: a meta-analysis","volume":"5","author":"Soga","year":"2017","journal-title":"Prev. Med. Rep."},{"key":"ref19","first-page":"135","article-title":"Comparison of the effectiveness of different horticultural therapy programs for individuals with chronic schizophrenia","volume":"22","author":"Son","year":"2004","journal-title":"Hortic. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref20","volume-title":"Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory","author":"Spielberger","year":"1983"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"201","DOI":"10.1016\/s0272-4944(05)80184-7","article-title":"Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments","volume":"11","author":"Ulrich","year":"1991","journal-title":"J. Environ. Psychol."},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1507354","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2024.1507354","article-title":"Effectiveness of social and therapeutic horticulture for reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"15","author":"Wood","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front. Psych."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1962154\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T05:36:05Z","timestamp":1790919365000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1962154\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"references-count":22,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1962154"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1962154","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"article-number":"1962154"}}