• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.377-385
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• 2020

Background and objective: In the Republic of Korea, military service is mandatory. Some of new recruits have the stress from the special environment, which could cause psychological maladjustment. The military forces have operated education programs such as green camp and healing camp. The study was conducted to investigate changes in psychological and physiological stress by conducting forest healing activities along with plant scent treatment for soldiers participating in a green camp. Methods: A total of 52 soldiers were participated including maladjustment soldiers and those recommended by their military units to protect the unfit soldiers who participated in forest healing activities in the green camp. The programs that were certified by the Korea Forest Service between 2014 and 2019, and were applied for stress reduction and relaxation training were classified into stress-coping programs and forest experience programs. Post-hoc surveys and cortisol measurements were carried out. Results: Green camp soldiers experience and differences in the level of stress responses were found to be very statistically significant between the treatment and control groups. The techniques for coping with stress were not significantly different in the control group, and the treatment group showed statistically significant results. In addition, the results of analyzing changes in the concentration of cortisol and measuring physiological stress were very statistically significant in forest healing activities at 4 p.m. Conclusion: Once green camp soldiers face stressful situations, forest healing programs using forest plant scents for green camp soldiers can have positive responses and forest healing activities can reduce psychological and physiological stress responses, improving maladjustment behaviors caused by stress and positively affecting the reduction of cortisol.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.341-353
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of urban forest and school forest experience programs on attitude toward the forest, psychological well-being, and stress of high school students. The subjects of this study were 26 students from a high school located in B-dong in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. They were divided into the experimental groups participating in urban forest experience and the control groups participating in school forests experience. Each group participated in the five weekly two-hour long forest experience program. We conducted a pre- and post-experience questionnaire surveys using the scale of environmental attitude toward the forest, the scale of psychological well-being, and the scale of academic stress to observe mental and psychological changes of the high school students. Data were analyzed by SPSS 23.0 program and a Wilcoxon sign rank test. There was a significant increase in the attitude toward forests of high school students participating in the forest experience programs. The groups participating in the school forest experience showed an increase in the psychological well-being although it was not statistically significant, and the groups participating in the urban forest experience showed a statistically significant increase, indicating that the forest experience affected the psychological well-being of the high school students. The groups participating in the school forest experience showed a decrease in the academic stress although it was not statistically significant, and the groups participating in the urban forest experience showed a statistically significant decrease, indicating that the forest experience affected the academic stress of the high school students.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.301-309
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• 2021

Background and objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the case of healing experience for lifestyle and environmental diseases through life and activities in the forest from the perspecitive of critical realism, and how the causal power and mechanism of the healing experience relate to forest healing factors and programs. Methods: 93 video data of people who started living in the forest for disease treatment were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method from the perspective of critical realism. Categories for analysis include general categories (age, duration, occupation, disease name), forest therapy categories (climate therapy, plant therapy, water therapy, diet therapy, kinesiotherapy, psychotherapy), and other categories (ecology, learning and management, life tools), etc., and the unit of analysis is the context unit. Results: 1) The diseases that motivated life in the forest were digestive system diseases, lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, endocrine system diseases, and various lifestyle-related diseases and environmental diseases in similar proportions. This indicates that forest life does not have specificity to respond to specific diseases, but provides treatment and recovery for all lifestyle and environmental diseases. 2) Among the forest therapies, climate therapy and plant therapy are related to the climatic and residential environment in the forest where 'natural persons' live. And others such as water therapy, diet therapy, kinesiotherapy, psychotherapy indicate the change from the lifestyle that caused the disease to the lifestyle for treatment and recovery. Conclusion: Life and activities in the forest provide an environment for treatment and recovery in which the healing principles such as aromatherapy, nutritional and dietary therapy, kinesiotherapy, and emotional psychotherapy are integrated in the 'real world'.

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

• The Journal of the Korean Institute of Forest Recreation
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.49-58
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of weekend forest healing programs using urban forest on family cohesion and family relationship improvement and parental satisfaction with programs. 21 families (65 people)participated in the weekend forest healing program in Incheon Grand Park from April to August 2018. The program using family forest experience activity and forest healing therapy was newly constructed and implemented with 4 times 8 hours for 2 hours each week. The results of this study is that weekend forest healing programs for family gave a positive effect on family cohesion and family relationship, and parents' satisfaction showed high satisfaction in most items. Therefore, we concluded that forest healing activities are suitable for effective healing activities in modern society where functions such as family cohesion and emotional bond are recognized as important by improving family cohesion and family relationship. Further research should be extended to different types of families, and the development of diverse and interesting family-experience forest healing programs that reflect family needs should continue.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.21-31
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to develop promotion strategies for revitalizing mountain eco-villages through social economic support. In order to fulfill this purpose, this study analyzed operation conditions, income creation structures of 240 mountain eco-villages formed by Korea Forest Service, and reviewed systems for social economic support. As summarized in research outputs, this study confirmed that the activities of organizations for joint projects had not been properly implemented due to the absence of supporting systems following the construction of mountain eco-villages. In addition, 159 villages formed as experience villages could not be qualified for enterprise systems due to aging population and absence of network systems. As for income creation, as indicated by comparing net incomes for joint projects calculated based on the classification of village management evaluation, the average net income of 51 highly-rated villages was 22 million Won and that of 128 moderately-rated villages was 3.5 million Won. Experience-based projects and the sales of processed forestry products made by young adult associations or women's societies were major sources of income, and the absence of inner economic bases or villages' jobs caused young adults and returned farmers to focus on working for outside economic activities. Finally, this study developed strategies for mountain eco-village's social economic promotion and suggested four stages of social economic revitalization provisions.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2009

Forests render both a home and a livelihood for people living in and around them. To reconcile the need of local communities with conservation, the Nishorgo Support Project (NSP or Nishorgo) is supporting co-management in five protected areas of Bangladesh, including Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary. The main focus of this study is to assess the effectiveness of alternate income generating activities (AIGAs) which is provided by the Nishorgo Support Project. It is a tool for reducing dependence on forest resources by people living in and around Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary and also play effective role in forest conservation. This study compares the socioeconomic condition (income, living style etc.) and forest dependency before and after implementation of co-management activities in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary. A total of 11 villages (sampling intensity was 31%) namely Kalibari, Mongoliabari, Chokidarbari, Chonbari, kalenga, Krishnochura, Hatimara, Himalia, Rashidpur, Goramchori and Horinmara were studied. We surveyed 272 households in these villages (Incase of households survey, sampling intensity was 100%). Data analysis shows that the major income generating livelihood activities were agro farming (30%), followed by fuelwood collection (22.50%), nursery raising (12.5%), cattle rearing (10%), fisheries (7.50%) and others. Study also reveals that after being implementation of the co-management activities the average income levels of the studied villages have rises on 578 Tk/households (1US$ = 70 Taka, Taka means Bangladeshi currency). Further more, many of the illegal loggers became forest protector, which make their life more secured. It was also found that peoples of the study villages are now actively engaging in forest management activities and it is the only hope for conservation and restoration of forest resources not only in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary but also in other protected area's of our country.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.57-71
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of fire officers' experience of traumatic events and subsequent forest healing on their occupational burnout. The results are as follows: First, the experience of traumatic events, social and psychological healing, and relieving stress by strolling had a significant effect on burnout. The more fire officers are exposed to traumatic events, the more they lose self-control in social and psychological aspects, and the lower the level of stress relieved through strolling, the higher the level of burnout. Thi sresult suggests that the more fire office rsare called out for fire fighting, the more they see their colleagues with severein juries, and the higher the level of mental and physical an xiety, the more they areex hausted. Moreover, for es thealing help store duce the irmental and physi calfatig uecaused by traumatic events, thu spreven ting them from suffering from burn out. Second, the experience of traumatic events, social and psychological healing, and relieving stress by strolling had a significant impact on occupational stress. The more fire officers are exposed to traumatic events, the more they lose self-control in social and psychological aspects, and the lower the level of stress relieved through strolling, the higher the level of occupational stress. This result indicates that to relieve job stress caused by fire fighting, increased forest healing activities, including various programs such as psychotherapy, developing interpersonal relationships and self-control, and creating a positive mind-set, can reducejobstress and help fire officers recover from it. Lastly, job stress had a mediation effect on the effects of the experience of traumatic events and forest healing on burnout. This implies that burnout can be prevented when fire officers gain high emotional stability through social and psychological healing and stress-relief strolling over a traumatic experience, and stronger support from the organization and family can keep them from being emotionally drained, thus contributing to the prevention of burnout.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.505-513
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• 2019

As the number of foreign workers increases in Korea, people's interest in their adaptation to this society has also increased. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a forest-healing program on foreign workers' cultural adaptation stress and psychological wellbeing. The experiment was conducted in a recreation forest located in Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do. The subjects who participated in this study included 40 foreign workers (16 males, 24 females). The experiment was conducted for three days and two nights from June 26 to 28, 2019. The forest healing program was composed of activities that can enhance immunity and restore physical and mental health by utilizing various healing environmental factors such as landscapes, sunlight, anion and oxygen in forest. The independent sample t-test was conducted to examine changes in cultural adaptation stress and psychological well-being before and after the program. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. As a result, cultural adaptation stress was statistically significantly reduced in sub-factors including discrimination experience, language conflict and legal status. Psychological wellbeing improved in all the surveyed sub-factors such as self-confidence, ego, immersion, and joy. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for reducing the stress foreign workers experience from cultural adaptation and restoring their psychological wellbeing in the future.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.515-524
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• 2019

This study was conducted based on the fact that children in institutions for early childhood education located in cities lack the opportunity to experience nature. Therefore, urban parks are where it is possible to observe nature and natural environment, through which we examined the effects of nature activities on kindergarten children's curiosity and scientific problem-solving ability. The subjects of this study were 5-years old kindergarten children in attending public kindergartens in Cheonan and Asan and 42 children were randomly selected. The pretest and posttest were conducted on curiosity and scientific problem-solving ability before and after nature activities. The results showed that nature activities in urban parks had significant effects on improvement of kindergarten children's curiosity and scientific problem-solving ability (p <.05). Therefore, nature activities in urban parks had positive effects on preference for unknown and exploratory behavior, which are sub-factors of kindergarten children's curiosity. Nature activities also had positive effects on discovery and statement of the problem, creation and application of ideas, and conclusion to problem solving.