• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.104 no.1
• /
• pp.133-139
• /
• 2015

In modern society, we are disconnected from nature and under a lots of stress. And this is cause of the various diseases. Also than in the past, People experiencing mental health problems and Psychiatric Inpatient rates appear to have increased. This study was performed to investigated the influence of forest experience program on Psychiatric Inpatients's mood and depressive state, stress responses. The subject of this study were 25 patients in the N Hospital in Naju, who were divided into an experimental group (n=12) and a control group (n=13), and experiment was conducted form 20 to March 29, 2013. Its effect was verified by utilizing the K-POMS-B and BDI, saliva. According to results of this study, there were improvements in their depressive state and degree of stress state. There was a meaningful difference(p<0.01). However, Cotrol group, these difference were not found.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.26 no.11
• /
• pp.1223-1233
• /
• 2017

The purposes of this study are to analyze the degree of satisfaction on forest experience among children, based on a survey of teachers and parents who lead them, and to make proposals based upon the findings. The survey was performed in forest experience for children at Apsan Park in Daegu. The results are as follows. First, there were 78 respondents comprising 34 teachers, 39 parents, and 5 others. The teachers' age groups were distributed evenly between the 20s and 40s and parents' 51.3% were in their 30s and 46.2% in their 40s. Second, all participants responded that forest experience is necessary for children. 80.8% of respondents required continually additional construction. Specifically, parents insisted that forest experience for children should be built up more than the teachers did. Third, as a result of the management and program satisfaction of forest experience for children, 38.5% of respondents wanted increased access and another 38.5% desired unlimited access. In addition, the older teachers preferred more flexible access. Fourth, the safe facility topped the list of the four facilities ranked by importance with 0.39 points, followed by the learning experience field, the shelter facility, and the discretional facility. This study aims to build up basic data in order to make and practically manage forest experiences for children. Therefore, through continuous research, forest experience for children should be established as a practical experience spaces for children.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.30 no.8
• /
• pp.693-702
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for developing effective forest healing programs for retirees by identifying their characteristics and preferences. A survey was conducted on demographic characteristics, overall perceptions of forest healing, and preferences for forest healing programs, targeting a total of 258 retirees visiting a natural recreation forest and a healing forest. The results of the survey suggested that the awareness of the forest treatment program and the hope of participating in it were both high, but the experience of participating in the program was low. Among the forest healing programs, the order of preference was "Breath in the forest", "Wind bathing and sunbathing", and "Feeling negative ions in the valley". Based on these results, it is expected that the forest healing program for retirees will be used as basic data for development of such programs in the future.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.25 no.9
• /
• pp.1323-1328
• /
• 2016

This study aims to identify the beneficial effects of forest experience on emotional changes in young children who are exposed to smartphones in daily life. This research was conducted on 41 children aged five and six years at a kindergarten in Chungcheongnamdo province. The children participated in a five-month forest experience program, conducted twice a week. Before beginning the study, its purpose and procedure were explained to the children's parents and kindergarten teachers, after which written content was collected. Before and after the five-month experience, questionnaires about smartphone use and emotional conditions were administered through the parents. The participants were divided into two groups, namely average-use and high-use groups, depending on the smartphone addiction proneness score. It was found that negative psychological subscales such as anxiety, impulse, and depression decreased following the five-month forest experience in both groups. Positive psychological attitudes such as sociability and creativity increased significantly after the forest experience. The high-use group showed a wider range of positive changes compared to the average-use group. Accordingly, forest experiences can be used as an effective solution for smartphone addiction problems among young children.

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

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.95-105
• /
• 2010

Background and Purpose : Forest-Therapy has received attention as a treatment of regulating living habits with the increase of chronic disease. Forest-Therapy and Korean Medicine are in same as their philosophy to adapt to nature and they can suggest new alternative treating of chronic diseases. Now we want to look the possibility of development of Forest-Therapy program adopting Korean Medicine with the analysis of research status and cases of Forest-Therapy. Methods : We searched articles in Korea by using keyword 'Forest-Therapy', 'Forest & Therapy' 'Forest' and 'Therapy' Korean. Results : Even though the domestic research about Forest-Therapy is still insufficient, there is a need of try referring the cases of Germany and Japan. Forest-Therapy program was used to get psychological stability, release stress and treat alcohol diseases. There was some cases that adopt the nature to clinical field actively. The clinical articles were mainly published about stress and health. Conclusions : It seems that running the constitutional program that considers different among individuals adopting Sasang constitutional medicine, utilizing Forest-Therapy Doctor through the participation of Public Oriental Medicine Doctor, and operating experience program applying Herb have sufficient possibility.

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

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.683-694
• /
• 2020

Background and objective: Cancer is the number one cause of death in Korea, and it affects any part of the body regardless of gender and age. Forest healing is a treatment that maximizes the effect of treatment and improves the quality of life. This study aims to provide basic data for the development and implementation of differentiated forest healing programs for cancer patients based on the survey on their interest and needs for the programs. Methods: The subjects were those diagnosed with cancer from October 2018 to April 2019, and this study used 144 copies of the questionnaire retrieved. The sample size of this study (n = 144) was the appropriate size required by G-Power, and the collected responses were analyzed using SPSS 25.0. Results: In the frequency analysis on the interest in forest healing, 79.2% of the subjects had no experience participating in forest healing, but 87% were aware of it, and 82.6% showed the intention to participate in forest healing programs. This indicates that even though not many of them have experience participating in forest healing, they showed high interest and needs for participation. They preferred to participate in spring (29.9%) and fall (27.8%), in programs carried out for 1.5-2 hours in the morning on weekdays. Conclusion: This study has implications for the analysis on forest healing needs of cancer patients, and it is necessary to plan, develop, and implement differentiated forest healing programs that meet the needs of the cancer patients depending on their characteristics. There is also a need to plan forest healing program that can promote both psychological stability and physical health of cancer patients and verify and evaluate their effects based on specialized training of forest healing instructors.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.565-574
• /
• 2018

Previous studies have shown that forest therapy program can help prevent dementia. However, few studies have focused on low-income elderly people living alone. The current study examined the meanings that the elderly living alone receiving medical care assigned to the urban forest therapy program, as a way to understand the pathways that nature-based intervention affect preventing dementia. Twenty-one participants were recruited and they participated in a five-week urban forest therapy program. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 21 participants who experienced the urban forest therapy program, and analyzed qualitative data using thematic analysis. Results showed that all themes identified were related to connectedness with oneself, neighbors and nature. Awarenesses of change were consisted of positive and negative themes. The themes of positive awareness were improvements of mental and emotional condition, feelings of isolation and loneliness, and health-related lifestyle. The negative themes were terminations of short-term programs and inconvenient access to the urban forest. Based on these data, we suggest an urban green welfare framework for future research and interventions for preventing dementia of underprivileged elderly group.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
• /
• v.21 no.11
• /
• pp.135-145
• /
• 2023

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a forest experience program on the lung capacity, health & fitness, emotional intelligence, and psychological well-being of local children.This study was conducted on 3rd and 4th grade elementary school students for 12 weeks from July 10 to September 30, 2022, at a local children's center in D City. Changes were analyzed and verified using t-test. Verified. The changes in the lung capacity, health & fitness, emotional intelligence, and psychological well-being of the experimental group and the control group were analyzed and verified using t-test.For the changes in lung capacity and health & fitness, there was a statistically significant difference between the control group and the experimental group in lung capacity (t=24.56, p<.05), and there was also a statistically significant difference between the two groups in cardiorespiratory endurance among the elements of health & fitness (t=16.64, p<.05). As for the changes in emotional intelligence and psychological well-being, there was statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in the emotional intelligence (t=2.31, p<.05) and in psychological well-being (t=3.21, p<.05). Through this study, the positive effects of the forest experience program were confirmed, and it is believed that institutional arrangements are needed to improve children's participation conditions by expanding forest experience education spaces and developing customized forest experience programs to suit the characteristics of the region.