• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.104 no.2
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• pp.294-299
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• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of a forest healing program on the level of job stress and the profile of mood states (POMS). 38 public servants who were in charge of social welfare in A city as well as 24 metal health care workers in C province participated in the forest healing programs. The data were collected by a pretest-posttest design. The data analysis showed that both job stress and POMS levels were significantly improved by the forest healing program. The therapeutic effects of forests are highly expected to be utilized for healing programs for job stress reduction and burnout prevention.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.45-57
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• 2016

The average income of forestry household was only 54.3% of urban workers's and 67.6% of farms household's income based on the data from statistics Korea in 2012. This indicates that forestry, which is a labor-intensive primary industry, has the limitation for creating added value. On the other hand, the demands for forest healing and forest experiential program have been continuously increased with new lifestyle focusing on the quality of life and increased leisure time. Therefore, it is necessary to establish comprehensive policies to increase added value except forestry to respond forest demands. The project utilizing forest healing can be on of solutions to meet forest demands. Thus, this research intends to investigate an economic revitalization plan for mountain villages with forest healing. The characteristics of forest healing facilities and contents of forest healing programs were examined through internet searching, fields surveys, and expert interviews. Total 186 concepts, 8 categories, and 24 subcategories were derived from raw data of surveys. The application process of forest healing was also provided to encourage local economy of mountain areas. This research offers application procedure of the forest healing for regional economic vitalization in Mountain Villages interviews using grounded theory by Strauss and Corbin(1988) as well as NVio11. This research contributes to prepare the base of future quantitative studies by providing strategies and suggestions for the application plans of forest healing programs. In addition, this research offers basic data for the policies to establish and manage forest healing villages.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.290-301
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• 2022

Increasing life expectancy leads to a rise in the prevalence of aging-related mental diseases and a concomitant increase in the financial and societal pressures related to their prevention and management. This issue is attracting increasing attention from researchers. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether a healing program in a forest environment is effective for improving cognitive function, depression, anxiety, and stress in elderly people. A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The experimental group consisted of 18 males and females aged 60 to 80 years who participated in a forest healing program for seven days, while the comparison group comprised 10 people with similar demographics. For the process of data analysis, this study performed a cross-analysis to determine the homogeneity of the data and carried out the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, a nonparametric statistical test, to verify the significance of each group. Participation in the forest healing program led to a significant improve-ment in cognitive function (p=0.030). The levels of depression decreased, but this result was not statistically significant. The levels of anxiety decreased significantly (p=0.004). The mean cortisol score, a measurement of stress, decreased, but it was not statistically significant. These findings confirmed the effectiveness of this program for improving certain mental conditions of elderly people, and affirmed that the use of long-term forest healing programs can be expected to alleviate national pressures created by aging societies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.4
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• pp.651-666
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• 2022

The study aim was to analyze research trends related to the effect of a forest healing program on humans. We analyzed 120 articles by focusing on "Journal information," "Characteristics of study participants," "Program characteristics," "Experimental design," and "Measurement indices." The numbers of papers published in the fields of agriculture and maritime were highest, and the numbers have increased since 1996 when the first paper was published. Many papers have targeted both sex (males and females), middle age, and healthy people. The programs were mainly conducted for multiple times in a forest welfare facility, and exercise therapy, psychotherapy, and plant therapy were primarily administered. Most studies compared experimental and control groups with < 30 participants, and mainly used self-reported surveys. The present study results are expected to be used as basic data for the development of forest healing programs and to expand related research in the future.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.663-673
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to scientifically activate the forest healing program activities for the elderly. The predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD), which are indices of thermal comfort in the thermal environment, and degree of canopy closure were compared and analyzed. Based on this information, the study objective was to present the appropriate conditions for maintaining the best comfort for the elderly. Six deck road shelters, which are the most active locations in forest healing programs among the National Center for Forest Therapy, were selected as the study sites. The results indicated that in the case of the conditions of 1 clo (clothing insulation value) and 1 met (metabolic rate) at an air temperature of 19 to 21 degrees in September on the measurement date, the PMV values ranged between -1.85 and -0.98 at all sites, and PPD values ranged between 25.60% and 68.68%. On the other hand, in the case of 1.3 clo and 1.6 met conditions, the PMV values ranged between -0.08 and 0.23 for all sites and PPD values ranged between 5.40 and 6.18. As shown above, the difference in thermal environment comfort and satisfaction according to the condition of the amount of metabolism and the amount of clothing could be confirmed. In addition, an analysis of the relation between PPD and canopy closure suggested a significantly positive correlation between them, and it was found that canopy closure was a factor affecting thermal comfort. Studies on effects of forest thermal environmental comfort and canopy closure on forest healing program areas should be conducted extensively according to seasonal conditions to provide information that can be used for more effective forest healing programs.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.338-348
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe healing effects of the forest on alcoholics through a forest experience program. Methods: The qualitative data was gathered from one focus group discussion with 6 alcoholics and individual interviews with 8 alcoholics. They had all participated in a "healing forest" program. All interviews were recorded and transcribed according to thematic content analysis processes. Results: The four main themes on the attributes of forest were "a lively living being", "placidity and tranquility", "acceptive atmosphere", and "beautifulness as it is" which revealed the participants' perceived nature of the forest which was attributed to the healing effects. Eight other themes on participants' positive changes included "revived senses", "aspired to live", "relieved and relaxed from being tense", "gaining insight on self", "having an acceptive attitude", "becoming compliant with his/her life", "learning that life is being together" and "recognizing the value of one's existence". Conclusion: The findings of the study illustrated the participants' self-healing processes through interactions with the nature of the forest. Nursing interventions utilizing healing atmospheres such as "healing forest" programs can be considered helpful in providing a venue to alcoholics to reflect on their lives affirmatively.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.9-23
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• 2024

This study investigates the physiological and psychological effects of a nature-based outdoor activity program in an environment reflecting the characteristics of forest and coastal areas on 30 firefighters (average age: 40.4 ± 9.8 years) who are frequently exposed to dangerous situations. Blood pressure, pulse pressure, and heart rate variability were used as physiological measurement indicators, and the Korean versions of PANAS (positive affect and negative affect schedule), WEMWBS (Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale), and PRS (perceived restorativeness scale) were used as psychological measurement indicators. For four days and three nights, the participants experienced programs at Hallyeohaesang Nature Center and the surrounding mountains, seas, and islands, utilizing forest resources such as trekking on forest trails, walking barefoot, taking aromatic footbaths, meditating in forest oxygen domes, and lying on relaxation chairs, and programs utilizing marine resources such as taking a boat to an island, walking on forest trails with seascape views, and sailing on a yacht. Participants' systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure decreased, and participants' positive emotions increased and negative emotions decreased after the program. There was a statistically significant increase in mental well-being and perceived restorative environment. Through this study, it was found that nature-based outdoor activity programs based on forest and marine resources are effective in physiological and psychological stability of firefighters. It is hoped that the results of this study will be applied to other high-risk workers for PTSD, who have high stress levels, by combining forest healing and marine healing, and expanding the scope and diversity of programs in more diverse environments and conditions.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.107-115
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of forest healing programs with walking, sightseeing, and forest scent among six healing forest treatments using forest environment on the cognitive function, depression, and quality of life of elderly living alone. The subjects of the study were 17 senior citizens living in Samcheok and complaining of severe depression and forgetfulness. They were divided into two groups, and each group participated in the six sessions of the weekly forest healing program. All of them were surveyed of a Korean version of the MMSE-K, BDI (Beck Depression Inventory Korean Version), and SF-36 (Short Form 36 health survey questionnaire) with the questionnaire designed for the one-group pre-post test to examine changes in cognitive function, depression, and quality of life. The results showed that the mental status, depression level, and quality of life of respondents were significantly higher after healing programs. These results suggest that participation in healing program activities using forest environment can improve cognitive function, relieve depression and improve quality of life for senior citizens living alone. Therefore, inducing older adults who live alone and avoid outside activities to participate in the regular forest healing program will contribute to the prevention of dementia due to age and environment.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.595-605
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• 2017

This study was intended to investigate the effects of after-school forest healing programs on the pro-social behavior and self-efficacy of young children using the attributes of forest and the forest healing factors. The children attending a kindergarten located in ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}$ - dong, Cheongju city were divided into a test group which participated in the forest healing program activities and a control group which participated in the regular programs of the kindergarten but not in the forest healing program. Each group consisted of 20 boys and girls aged 3 to 5 years. The forest healing program was conducted once a week from 10 April to 10 July in 2017 for a total of 12 sessions, and each session lasted one hour (60 minutes). The pro-sociality behavior and self-efficacy test of the children was conducted before and after the forest healing program, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. The result showed that the pro-social behaviors that indicated the ability to execute the positive action and the self-efficacy that indicated the self-confidence were statistically significant (p<0.05). The young children who participated in the forest healing program improved their self-esteem through positive thoughts from being with their peer in nature. Moreover, they increased not only ecological knowledge but also consideration for others and cooperative spirit. They also greatly improved the ability to control personal emotion and the ability to form the personal relationship which are the sub-factors of pro-sociality, the ability to adapt to the early childhood education institution, and the physical efficacy which is the sub-factor of self-efficacy. It was concluded that the after-school forest healing program had a positive impact on pro-social behavior and self-efficacy.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.667-675
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• 2018

This study was conducted to reveal the effects of forest healing programs on recovery resilience and happiness of university employees. Fourteen people who agreed on experiments were selected as the study subject, with seven people classified the experimental group and seven people into the controlled group. The subjects in the experimental group participated in the forest healing program consisting of four 60-minute long weekly sessions from October 27 to November 17, 2015 in a forest managed by University C located in Cheongju-si of Chungcheongbuk-do. For data analysis, we examined the differences in recovery resilience and happiness before and after participation in the programs through the paired t-test using the SPSS 21.0 program, and the analysis results confirmed that the forest healing program helped to increase the recovery resilience and happiness of the university employees. Although there was no statistically significant change of the controlled group, the recovery resilience and happiness of the experimental group showed a statistically significant increase. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as reference data for clarifying the effects of forest healing programs for university employees.