Research Interest Statement
There is a plurality of areas of research that are interesting and require the disclosure of a certain topic. I have always been passionate about health field and interested in all that relates to this kind area. Health is fascinating for me because, in medicine, many unrevealed facts are exciting to explore. Most of all, I am interested in psychology, and I would like to investigate the causes of mental illnesses and possible ways to treat them. Among these diseases, my attention was caught by Alzheimer's disorder. In addition, I am attracted to the topic of holistic care, such as yoga, floral therapy, and meditation, but most of all I am interested in ikebana (Japanese floral arrangements). Thus, I have a specific research question that I want to answer. The question is the following: how does ikebana help human brain to prevent Alzheimer’s disease?
Since I have learned ikebana for seven years now, this issue has caused the greatest interest for me. Ikebana is the traditional Japanese art of arrangement of cut flowers and shoots in particular vessels, as well as the art of correct placement of these compositions in the interior. The basis of the principle of ikebana includes simplicity achieved by identifying the natural beauty of the material. Ikebana was originated in Japan in the XV century and originally had a religious focus, as an offering to the gods in the Japanese temples (Abubacker and Sathya 201). The fact that over seven years of studying this art, I have never met a person who would learn ikebana and had Alzheimer's disease. This caused a keen interest and made me think that this therapy is not likely to allow the development of such terrible and incurable disease like Alzheimer’s. Besides, I think ikebana helps people to prevent the progress of Alzheimer’s disease in the future.
Thus, I would like to participate in applied research and show how studying of ikebana art and other recreational therapies affects Alzheimer's disease. I hope that participation in this research will allow me to gain new skills and knowledge with regards to this issue. I want to learn how to compare and analyze evidence, collect data and present them in a logical order. I would also like to examine the statistics that indicates the number of people who have Alzheimer's each year and their relation to any recreational therapy or floral art. Moreover, I would like to conduct a survey among those who are engaged in the horticultural therapy and find out their opinions with regards to the relationship between treatment and development of the disease. In addition, it is important to define the initial objectives of ikebana classes in order to understand how the art affects the human brain. In this research, I would like to prove that recreational therapy has a positive effect on the human mind and rather improves the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Participation in such a study will give me a valuable experience …
