• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.267-277
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• 2021

This study investigates sound, scenery, and soundscape preferences, which are sensory factors that users feel in a healing forest, comparing the difference in recovery by the soundscape. In the barrier-free, wooden walking path of the National Daegwallyeong Healing Forest, a survey site with five different conditions was selected. Users prefer water sounds the most and places with open views for scenery. For the complex sensation of soundscapes, the most preferred is a space where water sounds can be heard, and either a waterfall or an open view can be seen. A profile of mood states test was use to compare users' psychological recovery by the soundscape. It was found that users felt the most positive mood with water sounds and open views. In addition, users' preference for artificial sounds, scenery, and soundscape was the lowest. In the mood state test, it was found that the artificial soundscape incited the most negative emotions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.4
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• pp.651-666
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• 2022

The study aim was to analyze research trends related to the effect of a forest healing program on humans. We analyzed 120 articles by focusing on "Journal information," "Characteristics of study participants," "Program characteristics," "Experimental design," and "Measurement indices." The numbers of papers published in the fields of agriculture and maritime were highest, and the numbers have increased since 1996 when the first paper was published. Many papers have targeted both sex (males and females), middle age, and healthy people. The programs were mainly conducted for multiple times in a forest welfare facility, and exercise therapy, psychotherapy, and plant therapy were primarily administered. Most studies compared experimental and control groups with < 30 participants, and mainly used self-reported surveys. The present study results are expected to be used as basic data for the development of forest healing programs and to expand related research in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.271-276
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• 2016

Though various studies have analyzed the impact of physically being in the forest, consideration of the time factors is omitted in many of them. Since space and time mutually affect each other, the effects that resulted by the space factor can change when the time factor is introduced. In this paper, the focus was made on how the time spent in the forest influences the four resulting factors: live experiences, flow experiences, health perception and inner psychological perception. This research is based on the surveys taken from April to October, 2014. The focus of the questionnaire was to measure 'Live Experience (LE)', 'Flow (FL)', 'Health Perception (HP)' and 'Inner Psychological Perception (IPP)' levels among the participants. The respondents of the survey aged between 40 and 70, participating in Forest or ecological courses, living in the Northern area of Chungchungnam-do province of Korea. Additionally their past experiences ranged from as little as one year to as long as twenty years in forest related fields. It will be shown that the time spent in the forest affects the levels of LE, FL, HP, IPP, increasing them in proportion to the time with statistical significance. This result would be useful not only for those who are in charge of creating forest healing programs but also for people who study forest healing. Because the time spent in the forest influences the levels of LE, FL, HP, IPP, the forest healing programs will benefit by taking this result into consideration.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.434-442
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• 2016

This study examined differences in the preference of the fest therapy program regarding stress level. Using convenience sampling method, the surveys on the preferred type of forest healing program and social and psychological stress scales was carried out for adult male and female. As a basis of Psycho social Stress Scale (PWI-SF: Psychosocial Well-being Index Short Form), the adult 620 people were classified such as healthy group, potential stress group, high-risk stress group. The data were analyzed by use of SPSS 21.0 program. To see the difference in preferences for forest therapy program between the three groups according to stress levels, it was analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Depending on the stress levels, there were differences in the preferences of forest healing program such as breathing, breathing exercises, walking in the forest, listening to the sound of water flowing, viewing the forest, counseling, consultation and expert coaching, stress-related lectures, communication-related lectures, forest bathing wind bathing sun bathing. High-risk stress group preferred cognitive based program such as counseling, consultation and expert coaching, stress-related lectures, communication-related lectures. Healthy group appeared to prefer highly emotional approach of the program to take advantage of the five senses such as breathing, breathing exercises, walking in the forest, listening to the sound of water flowing, viewing the forest, forest bathing, wind bathing, sun bathing. Noticeable preference difference was not observed in the potential stress group. It is hoped this study will serve as a basis for the development of forest healing program regarding stress level.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.566-570
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• 2010

This review was conducted to investigate clinical trial trend, clinical effect, and study methods of forest healing. Literature search was performed using the search engines of eight electronic databases from inception to march 2010 without language limitation. The search terms were "forest healing", "forest experience", "forest therapy", "forest treatment", "clinical trial", and "clinical study". Inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) among all kinds of study searched about forest healing. Selection literature and data extraction was performed by authors(SH Sun and SG Lee) independently. Total three studies were selected finally. The methodological quality in all study was low because of poor reporting. Study indications were metal health, depression, self-esteem, and stress. The scale of studies was very small, which was the level of pilot study. There were no description for obtaining informed consent and being reviewed by Institutional Review Board (IRB), and could be any problems for statistical method in any studies. It is difficult to accept the fact that each studies had the significant effect for study indications in the results of studies. It is concluded that the evidence that health healing have a significant effect is insufficient. Further systematic and methodological study and well-designed clinical trial will be needed.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.109-118
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• 2019

Physical activities in the forest environment stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system of humans and have positive effects on the autonomic nervous system as well as moods and emotions. However, there are almost no studies on the benefits of exercise in the forest environment for patients with myocardial infarction. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 15-minute single session walking by myocardial infarction patients in the forest and urban environment on the physiological and psychological states. The heart rate variability was measured in 10 patients with myocardial infarction to assess physiological state after single session walking for 15 minutes in the forest environment and urban environment. In order to evaluate the psychological state, a profile of mood scale (POMS) and semantic differential (SD) questionnaire were used. The results of this study showed that 15-minute single session walking in the forest environment activated the parasympathetic nervous system of adult myocardial infarction patients more than 15 minutes of single session walking in the urban environment, and also made them feel more positive in terms of the POMS and SD. Therefore, this study suggests that even single session walking in the forest environment can positively influence the physiological and psychological states of adult heart disease patients and may also contribute to health care.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.132-141
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of a forest therapy program on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mood states of fire fighters. A total of 293 participants completed two psychological questionnaires before and after the program was conducted: the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Data were analyzed with paired t-test and ANCOVA using SPSS 24.0. The PTSD results showed a significant decrease from 11.38 ± 12.58 points before the program to 6.91 ± 10.50 points after the program. Results of the POMS questionnaire revealed an increase in positive factors and a decrease in negative factors, with a significant overall decrease in POMS results from 8.58 ± 18.47 points before the program to -0.63 ± 15.83 points after the program. As a result of analyzing the differences in stress reduction effects according to the amount of sleep participants had, PTSD showed improvement at 6-8 hours of sleep. These results are expected to be utilized as a basis for stress management and relief in fire fighters.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.333-343
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• 2024

This study aimed to investigate whether inhaling the aroma of essential oils could alleviate physiological stress responses and mimic the effects of forest therapy in urban settings. Briefly, 31 participants underwent stress index assessments for two days and inhaled the selected plant essential oils. The effects of this treatment on physiological responses were determined through electroencephalogram (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) measurements taken before and after inhaling the aroma of essential oils, extracting results for low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) components of HRV, as well as 𝜃 and 𝛼 brainwave activities. The results indicated that lavender oil did not yield significant differences, whereas pine, chamomile, and cypress oils exhibited significant differences in effects. Overall, stress relief was associated with enhanced 𝜃 and 𝛼 brainwave activities, a decrease in the LF component and an increase in the HF component of HRV. Among the essential oils studied, pine oil was the most effective. These findings underscore the potential of plant essential oils in replicating the therapeutic benefits of forest therapy, even in urban environments. Further investigations into their utilization are warranted to better understand and harness their therapeutic potential.

• 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 People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.125-138
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to review previous literature to determine the effects of nature-based program for workers. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency's guidance for undertaking systematic reviews for intervention. Literature search was performed using National Assembly Digital Library, Korean Studies Information Service System, and Korea Education & Research Information Service for literature published until March 2019. The participants were full-time workers, and intervention of nature-based programs was conducted in the outdoor, indoor, and indirect nature contact exposures, with comparators in the control group who did not receive the treatment. The results showed that the programs were effective in physical, psychological, and social health. The methodological quality of randomized controlled trials (RCT) was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias(RoB) tool, while non-randomized controlled trials (N-RCT) were assessed using the Cochrane Risk of bias assessment tool for non-randomized studuies (RoBANS). A total of 16 studies were selected for assessment: two RCTs, 10 N-RCTs, and four one-group pretest-posttest designs. Most interventions were provided at the workplace and in the community. There were many kinds of nature-based interventions, and forest therapy and horticultural therapy programs were most common. Various interventions for workers effectively improved job stress, depression, serum cortisol and stress-response. However, the included studies lacked methodological rigor. Future research is needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of nature-based programs for workers using rigorous research designs.