ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1670698
Indoor Hydroponic Vegetable Gardening to Improve Mental Health and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study
Provisionally accepted
Taehyun Roh1*
Laura Ashley Verzwyvelt2Anisha Aggarwal1Raj Satkunasivam2Nishat Tasnim Hasan1Nusrat Fahmida1Charles Hall3- 1Texas A&M University School of Public Health, College Station, United States
- 2Houston Methodist, Houston, United States
- 3Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
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Background: Cancer patients experience significant psychological and physiological challenges, affecting their treatment outcomes and overall well-being. Traditional gardening benefits mental health and quality of life but is often impractical, requiring alternatives. This pilot study evaluated the impact of indoor hydroponic gardening on cancer patients' mental health and quality of life. Methods: A case-crossover pilot study included 36 adult cancer patients from the Houston Methodist Cancer Center, with participants serving as their own control through repeated measurements. Participants received AeroGarden hydroponic systems and engaged in an 8-week gardening intervention. Mental well-being, mental distress, quality of life, fruit and vegetable consumption, and pain management were assessed at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks using validated scales. Data were analyzed using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to account for within-subject correlations over time. Results: The study included 36 cancer patients with a mean age of 57.5 years. Significant improvements were observed in mental well-being scores (p-trend = 0.042), depression subscale scores (p-trend = 0.003), and global quality of life (p-trend < 0.001) over the 8 weeks. Emotional and social functioning scores also improved significantly (p-trend < 0.001 and p-trend = 0.010, respectively), along with increased fruit and vegetable intake (p-trend = 0.043). While overall pain management scores showed a decreasing trend, these changes were not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that indoor hydroponic vegetable gardening can significantly improve mental health and quality of life in cancer patients, suggesting it as an alternative to traditional gardening. Future studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods are needed to confirm these findings and explore long-term benefits.
Keywords: cancer patients, hydroponic gardening, Mental Health, Quality of Life, intervention
Received: 22 Jul 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Roh, Verzwyvelt, Aggarwal, Satkunasivam, Hasan, Fahmida and Hall. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Taehyun Roh, taehyunroh@tamu.edu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.