• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.55 no.5
• /
• pp.492-497
• /
• 2022

Objectives: Women experience more stress in middle age than in other periods of their lives. Therefore, health management programs that enable middle-aged women to cope with and manage stress are needed. This study investigated the psychological effects of a meditation-focused forest therapy program among 53 middle-aged women living in urban areas in Korea. Methods: Participants were divided into 2 groups: one group underwent the program for 3 days in a forest, followed by 3 days in an urban environment, and the other group underwent the program for 3 days in the urban environment, followed by 3 days in the forest. The psychological effects of the forest therapy program were evaluated using the Profile of Mood States-Brief (POMS-B). Differences in mood state before and after the program conducted in the forest (experimental group) and in the urban environment (control group) were evaluated using the paired-samples t-test. Results: The program in the forest significantly reduced tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion among the domains of the POMS-B. The program in the urban area significantly reduced tension, but not depression, anger, fatigue, or confusion. Conclusions: Meditation-focused forest therapy programs are expected to contribute to promoting psychological health and enhancing the quality of life of middle-aged women.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.99 no.3
• /
• pp.380-390
• /
• 2010

This research was conducted to investigate the consciousness of demander on National Forest Management System and to seek for solution to activate it by measuring the variables such as the extent of goal achievement on the system, the extent of importance on function of national forest, benefit for participation of the system, and the extent of importance on the system as well as the extent of demander recognition and intention of participation on the system like, Cooperative Forest Program and People's Forest Program. The target of this investigation is to categorize consumers of National Forest Management System (NFMS) into four types such as environmental organization that do not participate in the system, environmental organization that participate in the team, company to publish a white paper on environmental and local government. As a result, the intention of participation was showed in C Type (62.7%), among fields that respondents interested in participation were tree planting and forest tending (56.2%). However, the rest of the participants were reluctant participate in the NFMS due to more benefit (72.2%) of corporate social responsibility from other fields than those from the field utilizing forestry. If only, diverse facilities related to national forest and active supporting policy are provided by Korea Forest Service, social participation using forest resources would be considered. Although 61% among A Type recognized NFMS in advance, the prime reason for not utilizing are the problems with reserving place for participates in and the inconvenience to participate in on-site. Type D shows slightly high interest in People's Forest Program (3.69). Also, it shows high interest in Forest Recreation (4.15) and Forest Reports (3.90). Particularly, it indicates that GyeongGi-Do and GangWon-Do local government prefers Forest Experience, and Cheolla, ChungCheong and GyeongSang local government prefer Forest Reports. Based on the above study, we finally suggest that legal alignment of the system, and the provision of incentive for inducement of voluntary participation by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and establishment of new exclusive nongovernmental organization be able to operate the system as the solution to activate NFMS in terms of the consumer.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.105 no.4
• /
• pp.486-495
• /
• 2016

This study was conducted to contribute to propose the improvement by looking into the use of private forest support system and then analyzing the status of support system and problems among forest owners. The study result showed that the recognition of private forest support system was 57.8% in sincere forest managers and 47.6% in forest successors, but only 17.6% in forest owner. The application experience was 79.2% in sincere forest managers, and 58.6% in forest successors, but 28.6% in forest owner which was significantly low as was shown in the recognition. Response on 'not knowing the support system' as the reason they were not able to ask for support was 36.1%, 43.0%, 78.6% in sincere forest managers, forest successors, and forest owner respectively in that order, which were the same results with the recognition. In the contrast, the effects of support for private forest management were higher in forest owner than sincere forest managers and forest successors, and overall level of satisfaction was also 28.5% in sincere forest managers and 36.8% in forest successors and 41.5% in forest owner. It turned out that forest owner who had somewhat low numbers of application had rather high satisfaction on overall management. Therefore, in order to attract active forest management from forest owner who take up most of forest owners in South Korea, the recognition on private forest support system is needed to improve and the local government and the Forestry Association should come up with active plans for public relations and support.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.16-22
• /
• 2014

This study was conducted to determine the changes in soil chemical properties and the growth of seedling according to the different dredged soil improving methods at slope of Saemangeum sea dike. Undersea dredged soil was improved by five different methods. Seedlings of Ulmus davidiana var. japonica, Chionanthus retusa, Celtis sinensis, and Pinus thunbergii were planted after 9 month of experience site installation, then soil pH, NaCl concentration in soil, soil organic matter (SOM), and survival rate and height of seedling was measured. Initial soil pH was highest in the control plot but it decreased to the similar level with other soil improving plots after 35 months. There were no differences in NaCl concentration between the control and soil improving plots, and it showed decreasing tendency during the study period. In the control plot, initial SOM was lowest among that of other plots during the study period. The survival rate of 36 months after planting of P. thunbergii was highest among the species. The gap of the tree growth of P. thunbergii between the control plot and the soil improving plots was small, however, other species showed relatively higher tree height in the soil improving plots than the control plots. Creation forest with P. thunbergii might be a cost effective afforestation in coastal reclaimed land since it rarely needs additional improvement of dredged soil.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.63-70
• /
• 2015

Objectives The purpose of this study is to understand the research trend of reports on forest therapy so far and analyze the Korean medicine therapy being applied in forest therapy programs. Methods We ran a keyword search on domestic databases with the following keyword 'forest therapy, forest healing, forest treatment, recreational forest, forest bath, forest experience'. The search took place in December 2014 and there was no limit to search time. A total of 334 forest therapy articles have been selected. Results The number of research on forest therapy continued to rise from 1985, with 334 articles being published from 84 journals. When those 188 articles were sorted by their contents and methods, except 146 articles of survey on simple satisfaction, recognition and visting, 94 were clinical studies, 79 were literature studies, 15 were experimental studies. Of the 94 clinical researches, there were 52 CCTs (Controled Clinical Trials), 39 ODs (efficacy studies with either a controlled or an Other than controlled Design) and 3 RCTs (Randomized Clinical Trials). Among the clinical researches, there were a total of 21 studies that used Korean Medicine programs, and meditation was the most popular, being used in 18 studies. Herbal food and tea therapy and Qigong were used in 3 studies each, and Korean medicine music programs were used in 2 studies. Conclusions A systematic and standardized Korean medicine forest therapy program must be developed, and based on the program, more research treating diseases should be conducted.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.525-539
• /
• 2019

Much research has been conducted on user behavior by taking surveys and interviews to plan the green space effectively. However, there is a limitation in understanding detailed user characteristics such as personalities and values. This study applied the Persona-based Scenario Method (PSM) to Hongneung Experimental Forest to understand the detailed needs and behaviors of the users in the forest recreation area. The PSM is a user experience modeling technique, which tries to understand the users by describing the type of users as real people. This study 1) extracts the factors of visitor recreation activities in Hongneung Experimental Forest based on the results of the survey, 2) develops user personas based on the results of survey and comes up with activity factors, and 3) designs user scenarios. As a result of applying the PSM, 64 factors of visitor activities were derived from the observation survey in 14 sites of Hongneung Experimental Forest and 25 key factors of visitor activities were chosen through observer's brainstorming. Second, three types of personas were developed considering the key factors and the results of user characteristics with quantitative and qualitative analysis. Lastly, context scenarios were designed by applying the key factors of visitor recreation activities to the persona model. We identified the design problems of the space and design requirements through the scenarios. This study has significance in that it takes an approach from the user perspective and was applied to the forest recreation area, which was mainly used in product design. The developed personas could be used for deriving design elements and setting the direction for planning considering detailed needs, behaviors and characteristics of users.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.106 no.2
• /
• pp.240-248
• /
• 2017

The purposes of this study is to analyze the effects of repeated mountain trekking experience in adolescent sociality. Fifty-eight adolescents who took part in Baekdu-daegan trekking program were analyzed as research subjects. The subjects were divided for comparative analysis. Those who participated 40 times or more from 2014 to 2015 were designated as repetitive participants, and those who participated 5 times or fewer from March 2016 to April 2016 were designated as temporary participants. The general attributes of the subjects were examined by using descriptive analysis. A correlation analysis was carried out to compute the correlation coefficients between the five sub-components of sociality, and an independent sample t-test was executed for comparative analysis of sociality. The results of the analysis showed that sociality was higher in adolescents who repeatedly participated in trekking. Repetitive participants scored higher than temporary participants in all measures of the sub-components of sociality: autonomy, lawfulness, diligence, cooperativeness, and interpersonal relationships. We have verified positive influence of repetitive trekking experiences based on the research results thus far. Therefore, it supports the need of forest education as a fundamental approach to solving adolescent problems.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.104 no.4
• /
• pp.668-676
• /
• 2015

The objective of this paper is to elicit some policy implications to promote agroforestry in South Korea from the consumers' perspective. We conducted internet survey to 640 urban households about the recognition of forest farming products. Consumers purchased forest farming products for their nutrition, medical function, and safety and regarded them as higher quality than crops cultivated from agricultural land. Consumers preferred forest farming products but revealed no difference in recognition of naturally-grown products. Consumers buying forest products prioritize the quality and medical function among attributes. Among consumers as their income increases, they regard naturally grown products more important than price and freshness. Therefore, to promote agroforestry in South Korea, certification for naturally-grown products to win the consumers' trust and the $6^{th}$ industrialization by combining experience and green tourism program must be considered.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.31-41
• /
• 2015

Rural tourism village experience is proceeded quantitatively without distinct characteristic. This research aimed at analyzing the experience and utilizing in the establishment of differentiation and contents development. Type of experience activity was classified as 10 types in Level 1 and 0~4 types in Level 2. As the result of analyzing 3,007 experiences in 168 villages, types of experience activity implemented per 1 village was 17.9. Among them, ecological experience type appeared to be the most, and appeared in order of food, agriculture farming experience. In respect of agriculture farming experience, 'harvest and utilization' was analyzed to be the highest, and regarding rural farmhouse living experience displayed 'farmhouse living' experience the highest. Tradition courtesy experience displayed 'traditional culture' experience the highest, and rural food experience was analyzed to implement 'food making' experience the most. Ecological experience mainly consisted of 'hunting and collecting' and 'observation/learning', in case of play experience, 'traditional play' experience activity was analyzed to be performed the most. Considering utilization material, it appeared in order of 'rice', 'sweet potato', 'potato', 'corn', 'chili', 'agricultural implement', 'farmhouse', 'animal', 'culture', 'history', 'rice cake', 'alcoholic drink', 'tofu', 'kimchi', etc. The place of ecological experience was performed in the forest the most, and lots of experience was performed in stream, valley, and river. The researcher expects that characteristic experience activity will be developed based on this result, by avoiding doubleness of the experience activity among the regions and the villages.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 2012

A study surveyed to visitor's user behavior and importance-satisfaction in the Provicial Wando-arboretum. As the results of the research, Most of the visitors are 40s and 50s and live in Jeonnam Region, Gwang-ju. The purpose of their visit was recreation, leisure or experience of a warm-temperate forest. Also the mean of importance was 3.94 and the mean of satisfaction was 3.51 in the Wando-arboretum. It appeared necessary for items of program development, homepage management and amenities including public toilet. The research results are expected to suggest efficient management measures. And expects with the research result that will be the possibility of raising the qualitative satisfaction of the visitor.