Journal of Forest and Environmental Science

Institute of Forest Science, kangwon National University (강원대학교 산림과학연구소)
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The Effect of a Forest Healing Program on Cognitive Function, Depression, Anxiety, and Cortisol Levels in Elderly People

  • Soyeon, Kim (Department of Forest Healing, College of Human Service, Catholic Kwandong University) ;
  • Jungkee, Choi (Division of Forest Science, College of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Kangwon National University)
  • Received : 2022.08.26
  • Accepted : 2022.11.11
  • Published : 2022.12.31
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was funded by the National Center for Forest Therapy in Korea, grant number C1015529-01-01.

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