• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.597-606
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• 2014

The preference of general adult on the forest and forest road was surveyed and analyzed for the development of forest therapy program. This study was conducted for the purpose of providing a basis for the development of more targeted-and differentiated-forest therapy program by analyzing the preference of general adult on the forest and forest road from 19 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 through on-line survey. The sample group of 613 adults has been used in practical analysis. Using SPSS 21.0, We looked at the preference differences of the forest and forest road according to the demographic characteristics(sex, age, education level, occupation and monthly income) through descriptive statistics analysis, frequency analysis, cross tabulation analysis, multiple response analysis. The seasonal preference was spring, autumn, any season, summer, winter in order and there was a significant difference according to one's sex, age, occupation and monthly income. There was a significant difference in the configuration of forest according to one's monthly income. The favorite type of forest as a place of forest healing program was natural recreational forest, healing forest, urban forest, park, school forest in order. There was no significant difference in the favorite forest type regarding to the distance to the healing place from one's residence in all cases. There was a significant difference in the type of forest according to one's monthly income. The most favorite configuration of forest road was gentle sloped road. Once walking into the forest for the purpose of healing, the favorite forest road length was 1.5~3 km, less then 1.5 km, more than 3 km in order and there was a significant difference in preference according to one's sex, age, education level and monthly income. We believe that the healing program should be differentiated from the general form of it according to one's sex, age, education level, occupation and monthly income as a result of this investigation of preference of general adult on the forest and forest road for the development of forest therapy program. In particular, we believe that the differentiated program should be offered according to one's age. We expect this analysis to be used as a basis for the development of forest therapy program.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of five senses activities in forests on the reduction or mitigation of daily stress using various forest healing factors such as water, sunlight, topography, phytoncide, landscape, sound, fragrance, etc. The subjects of this study were 40 young children aged 5 in an early childhood education institution located in Cheongju. The children were divided into two groups: 20 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group. The experimental group participated in the program of five senses activities in the forest in total of 12 sessions (1-2 sessions a week), with each session lasting 60 minutes from May 8 to June 16, 2017. The control group, who did not participate in the five senses activities in the forest, participated in the Nuri Curriculum operated by the educational institution. Before and after the program, tests to measure daily stress in three different situations (encountering blame-aggression situation, experiencing anxiety-frustration, and losing self-respect) were conducted on young children and the data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0. As a result, daily stress of the young children decreased in all three situations with statistical significance. Through the five senses activities in the forest, young children could feel the nature by observing and exploring it in the forest, so which reduced their daily stress compared to the activities carried out in the classroom.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.118-129
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to offer the preliminary data for the development of forest therapy program. This exploratory study is about the development of forest healing program by identifying what is the forest healing program preferences of potential consumers and would be an important basis for the operation. The survey of interests and needs of 620 people on the forest therapy was analyzed. Using SPSS 21.0 program, statistical analysis, frequency analysis, T-test, One-way ANOVA, we looked at the differences in forest healing program preferences according to gender, age, occupation. Forest therapy program preference was found to vary depending on sex, age and job. First, according to gender, men preferred athletic in the forest and camping compared to women, and women showed a higher preference than men in the overall program. Second, depending on age, as compared to other age, for 20s; stress assessment & diagnosis, cooking in the forest, photo therapy in the forest, for 30s; walking in the forest, counseling, listening to lectures(stress-related or interpersonal relationships-related), communication-related lectures and vision quest, for 40s; meditation, viewing the forest, forest bathing wind bathing sun bathing, walking on barefoot in the forest, for 50s; breathing breathing exercises, yoga, mountaineering, climbing in silence, eating wild food, respectively, each of those programs were especially favored. Third, the forest healing program preference in accordance with the job is as follows. For students; stress assessment & diagnosis, cooking in the forest, etc., for teachers; walking in the forest, mountaineering, reading in the forest, viewing the forest, forest bathing wind bathing sun bathing, camping etc., for housewives; yoga, listening to the sound of water flowing, drinking herbal tea, eating wild food, for specialist researcher; breathing breathing exercises, climbing in silence, meditation, sleeping in the forest, respectively, each of those programs were especially favored. We expect the results of this study to be utilized as basic data for the development of forest therapy program targeting on adults.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.75-85
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• 2016

In recent years, natural healing space studies have been done in health care and forestry. However, previous studies have focused on healing effects of natural elements in interior space or natural landscape view. And there is a limit to using the evidence for healing space design. The aim of this study is to discover the relationship between types and effects of healing space for evidence-based design. This study compares and analyzes the mayor images, psychological restorativeness, and satisfaction to identify the effects and differences of natural trail, designed trail, natural shelter, and designed shelter by types of forest space. Collected data is analyzed with a factorial analysis, valiance analysis and multiple regression analysis in SPSS 18.0. The results of this study are as follows: 1) Among five factors consisting psychological restorativeness, natural trail can be achieved with 'being away' and 'compatibility' and designed shelter can be achieved with 'fascination' and 'coherence'., 2) Psychological restorativeness values higher in images with higher excitement, brightness, vitality, and beautifulness as well as in images with lower level of disorder., 3) Among five factors consisting psychological restorativeness, higher forest satisfaction can be achieved with a higher level of 'being away' and 'coherence'. In conclusion, this study contributes to providing fundamental information for design guidelines of healing spaces through identifying the characteristics of healing environment by types of forest space.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.4
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• pp.544-552
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• 2020

This study investigated the effectiveness of "Healing Stay in Forest," a long-term stay forest therapy program implemented by National Center for Forest Therapy in 2019 with 49 participants by measuring pre- and post-questionnaire responses and physical changes, such as blood pressure, body composition, and HRV. Results confirmed statistically significant reduction in negative emotions and enhancement of autonomic nerve balance in the participants. Regarding the changes in the evaluation of physical fitness based on medical history, some significant differences were observed in grip strength and standing high jump, in which participants with no medical history showed better results than those with medical history. These findings are important for verifying the effectiveness of long-term stay forest therapy (6 nights and 7 days).

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.333-340
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• 2019

As the number of students in the multicultural background grows, the interest in their education is also increasing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of forest healing factors on the improvement of language ability and ego-resilience of students from multicultural families. We conducted an after-school forest healing program of ten male and ten female middle school students of a multicultural preparatory school located in ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}$-dong in Cheongju, Chungnam Province. The experiment consisted of a total of 12 weekly one-hour (60 minutes) programs from April 12, 2018 to June 26, 2018. The forest healing program is an activity that uses the various environmental factors that exist in the forest to increase the immunity of the human body and restore physical and mental health. To determine the difference in ego-resilience before and after the program, we conducted a paired t-test and analyzed with the SPSS 18.0 program. The results showed that the ego-resilience significantly improved in all sub-factors including the positive thinking ability, problem-solving ability, intimacy ability, emotional adjustment ability, and autonomic behavior ability (p<.001). The descriptive statistics of the language ability showed the improvement in writing errors, pronunciation errors, sentence errors, tense errors, and errors in research and connection. We expect the results of this study can be used as the basic data to improve ego-resilience and language acquisition ability of middle-entry children and students from multicultural families.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.31-48
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to present the basic data for establishing the plan of usage and management of healing forest by surveying and analysing the vascular plants distributed in Jangseong Healing Forest. The numbers of vascular plants were summarized as 338 taxa including 85 families, 211 genera, 294 species, 3 subspecies, 33 varieties and 8 forms. In the result of life form, hemicryptophytes and geophytes were the most common and hydrophytes were the least. The rare plants were 5 taxa including Abies koreana Wilson(planted), Thuja orientalis L.(planted), Scutellaria insignis Nakai, Tricyrtis macropoda Miq. and Arisaema heterophyllum Blume. The Korean endemic plants were 12 taxa including Philadelphus schrenkii Rupr., Indigofera koreana Ohwi, Lycoris flavescens M.Y.Kim ＆ S.T.Lee and so forth. The specific plants by floristic region were 28 taxa including 2 taxa of grade IV, 3 taxa of grade III, 7 taxa of grade II and 16 taxa of grade I. The naturalized plants were 20 taxa including Fallopia convolvulus (L.) $A.L{\ddot{o}}ve$, Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, Veronica arvensis L., Poa pratensis L. and so forth. The invasive alien plants were Rumex acetocella L. and Ambrosia artemisiifolia L..

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.231-243
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• 2018

This study was conducted to determine and compare the perceived number of users (PNU) and evaluative standards for each type of visitors to "Healing Field" of Jangseong Pyunbaek Healing Forest (JPHF). Data were collected from 158 samples selected by convenient sampling method from the users of "Healing Field" in JPHF during September 2017. Visitors to "Healing Field" consisted of 49.3% for recreation (VR), 15.3% for healing (VH), and 35.3% for both recreation and healing (VRH). Respondents' average PNU was 23.8 (median: 20.0), and the range of average PNU by visitor type was 21.1-27.8 (median: 20.0). Respondents' PNU showed low correlations with perceived crowding (PC) (r=0.23) and perceived interference of healing experience (PIHE) (r=0.20). There were no differences in the optimal number of users (ONU) of "Healing Field" among the types of visitors. The overall average ONU was 28.9(median: 25.0), and the range of average ONU by types of visitors was 25.4-31.4 (median: 25.0-27.5). The overall maximum acceptable number of users (MANU) was 38.1, and MANU for VR, VH, and VRH was 36.9, 32.0, and 38.0, respectively. Respondents' mean PC was 2.73 (SD: 3.26, 9-point scale) while mean PIHE was 3.26 (SD: 1.77, 9-point scale). The VRH group showed a higher PC and PIHE than the VR group. The group with greater PNU than ONU showed higher PC and PIHE than the other groups. Based on the results, this paper presented some managerial implications, discussed the limitations of the study, and suggested the further studies.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.107-117
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• 2021

Background and objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a forest healing program in terms of depression, neuropsychological and physiological benefits for the elderly. Methods: For this purpose, we developed a forest therapy program for the elderly who are vulnerable to dementia and conducted a total of 11 sessions of forest therapy activities in a forest once a week. We measured the changes in depression, resting-state Electroencephalography(EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) before and after the program. There were 60 subjects aged over 65 yesrs old. 30 subjects participated in the forest therapy program, and the other were in the control group. The Geriatric Depression Scale was used to measure the level of depression, neuroNicle FX2 (Laxtha, Korea) was used to measure the resting-state EEG, and photoplethymogram (ubpulse T1, Laxtha, Korea) was used to measure the HRV. Results: The results showed that the depression index of the experimental group improved with statistical significance after the program (experiment group = 3.267 decrease of the mean). In the EEG measurement, the alpha-peak frequency at rest (experimental group = 0.227 Hz increase of the mean) was improved (mean increase = 0.23 in the experimental group, p < .05). The high frequency of HRV, which represents the parasympathetic nerve activity of the body's autonomous response, was also significantly improved (mean increase = 0.396 in the experimental group, p < .05). Conclusion: The results suggest that the forest therapy program can reduce the cognitive, psychological and physical risk factors of dementia for the elderly at risk of cognitive decline. Therefore, forest therapy activities may be suitable for the prevention of dementia in the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.203-214
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the types, socio-demographic characteristics, use patterns, and visit motivations of visitors to "Jangseong Pyunbaek Healing Forest (JPHF)." Data were collected from 216 samples selected by convenient sampling method using questionnaire survey between October and November 2016. Data obtained from 476 respondents of the same type of survey during the same period were partly used to examine the types of activities of visitors to the study site. The results showed that 77.0 percent of respondents were categorized as "visitor for recreation" (VR: Those who visit JPHF for the purpose of general recreational experiences such as appreciating landscapes, tourism, social interactions rather than better health or healing). On the other hand, only 10.3 percent of respondents were "visitor for healing" (VH: Those who visit JPHF for the purpose of better health or physical and mental healing). VH showed a higher level of visit experiences to JPHF than VR and tended to expect JPHF as "the place to enjoy calm and natural experiences" more than VR did. VH tended to visit JPHF "alone" more, and their group size was also smaller than VR. About 26.8 percent of all respondents were not aware that JPHF was the "healing forest," and VH showed higher awareness of it than VR. About 66.8% of respondents assessed the managerial and operating states of JPHF positively while only 6.2% assessed them negatively. There was no difference in the assessment of managerial and operating states between VR and VH. The visitors of JPHF showed the markedly high use in main forest roads (use rate: 47.4%) and "Healing Field" (use rate: 59.2%) of JPHF. Regarding the visit motivations to JPHF, VH showed higher importance on "quietude," "health," and "tension release" than VR while VR rated higher importance on "social interaction." The paper discussed the managerial implications, findings, limitations and further studies.