• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.225-234
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• 2023

This study verified the effect of a combined forest/thermal therapy (FT/TT) program on participants with depressive symptoms and smoking or alcohol dependence. The participants included 20 people in the experimental group and 18 people in the control group. The experimental group participated in the FT/TT program for 2 nights and 3 days at the National Center for Forest Healing, in Hoengseong (National Hoengseong Supchewon), and a charcoal kiln operated by the Gangwon Charcoal Farming Association. The control group carried out their daily life for the same period. Psychological, physiological, and biochemical tests were conducted to determine the effect of the program. The results showed that there were significant improvements in stress, anxiety, depression, sleep quality, sleep satisfaction, and IL-6 levels. However, no significant difference was found in the cortisol, serotonin and melatonin levels between the experimental and control groups. Thus, the FT/TT therapy had psychological and biochemical effects on individuals with depression and nicotine or alcohol dependency. Further studies should be conducted to verify the effect of forest healing in various conditions.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.267-276
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• 2020

Background and objective: Agro-healing is crucial with urban farming in the domestic. It is beyond the conventional agriculture. This study was carried out to assess the 2010s researches on domestic agro-healing and predict the future direction of agro-healing development. Methods: Among the articles published from 2010 to 2018, we collected some articles by searching keywords including agro-healing, garden activity, gardening, horticultural activity, horticultural program, horticultural therapy, plant effect, plant environment, plant growing program, plant impact, social gardening, urban agriculture and vegetable garden activity, selected 83 articles that were evaluated in advance, and analyzed by frequency analysis, t-test, and one-way ANOVA with SPSS 20.0. Results: Agro-healing journal articles were published the most in 2010, and have declined since then. In the classification according to the academic society, most of the journal articles were published by the Society for People, Plants, and Environment. The main targets of domestic agro-healing related to activities and programs were preschoolers, children and adolescents, accounting for 52.4% of the total. By the characteristics of the subjects, agro-healing programs and studies were conducted with special participants who needed special care compared to the general participants. The dependent variables were classified into six areas according to their attributes and the share of psychological and emotional areas was highest (42.6%) among them. In terms of the composition of the program, the share of those with 9-12 sessions was highest (36.7%) and the share of those with more than 20 participants was also highest (39.8%). Conclusion: It is recommended to operate agro-healing programs or industries focusing on the socially disadvantaged including those who have special needs or the underprivileged, but in order to create income for farms and expand the demand for agro-healing, it will be necessary to spread the perception that anyone without any physical or emotional issue can be the targets of and experience agro-healing. To meet the different needs of targets of agro-healing, it will be necessary to conduct objective and practical studies on broader areas and in the process the healing functions of agriculture and the strength of agro-healing needs to be further highlighted.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.137-152
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• 2021

Background and objective: This study was carried out to investigate and analyze the preference for plant fragrance and the psychological effects of a agro-healing activity in 101 firefighters aged 39.71 ± 10.94. Methods: For the psychological evaluation, post-traumatic stress symptoms, Korean occupational stress scale short form (KOSS-SF), emotional intelligence, and job satisfaction were surveyed on the Likert scale. For the preference for plant fragrances, 20 ㎕ of commercially available essential oils from four plant species (Mentha spp., Lavandula spp., Citrus limon, C. sinensis) were absorbed into each test paper and provided to the participants. Results: The rate of post-traumatic stress symptoms was high at 37.6% of the firefighters surveyed.. C. limon fragrance had the highest preference among the four plant fragrances, followed by C. sinensis > Mentha spp. > Lavandula spp. with statistically significant difference (F = 14.256, p < .001). The lower their age, income, and position, and higher the education level, the higher the preference for plant fragrances. And the administrative group had higher preference for plant fragrances than field group. In addition, as a result of examining the correlation between job satisfaction, preference for plant fragrance, post-traumatic stress, emotional intelligence, and job stress for fire-fighters, the higher the job satisfaction, the higher the fragrance preference and emotional intelligence, and the lower the post-traumatic stress and job stress. Conclusion: Therefore, installing a garden using botanical fragrances at workplaces that firefighters can easily access will improve job satisfaction and relieve stress. It can be concluded that applying the fragrance of plants to the healing farming activities at the fire-fighter's workplace can increase the usefulness of the healing activities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.87-97
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• 2019

본 연구는 방과 후 농업 체험활동 프로그램이 초등학생의 정서지능과 회복탄력성 향상 및 우울감 감소에 미치는 영향을 알아보고자 실시하였다. 서울시 초등학교에 재학 중인 4-6학년(11-13세) 초등학생 총 30명이 본 연구에 참여하였다. 참여에 동의한 30명의 학생 중 농업체험 프로그램에 참여를 희망한 18명은 실험군으로, 농업체험 프로그램에 참여를 희망하지 않은 학생 12명은 대조군으로 집단화 하였다. 실험군은 2018년 4월부터 7월까지, 총 12주간(주 1회, 회기당 60분)의 방과 후 활동으로 본 프로그램에 참여하였다. 초등학생의 정서적 건강 증진을 위해 사회정서학습 이론에 기반한 농업체험 프로그램을 설계하였다. 프로그램 실시 전과 후에 자기보고식 설문지를 이용해 정서지능, 우울, 회복탄력성을 측정하였다. 그 결과, 농업 체험활동 프로그램에 참여한 초등학생의 정서지능이 향상되었고(P=0.031), 우울감이 감소된(P=0.011) 반면 대조군에서는 유의한 차이가 나타나지 않았다(P>0.05). 회복탄력성은 실험군과 대조군에서 모두 실험 전후 유의한 차이가 없었다(P>0.05). 본 농업체험 프로그램에 참여한 아동들은 프로그램에 대해 높은 만족감을 보고하였다. 따라서 본 연구에서 사회 정서학습이론을 적용한 농업체험 프로그램이 초등학교 고학년 학생의 정서지능 향상과 우울감 감소에 효과적인 것으로 나타났다. 추후, 표본수를 확대하여 농업 체험활동 프로그램의 효과 검증 연구가 추가적으로 필요할 것이라 생각되며, 다양한 지역의 초등학생들에게 확대 적용하는 연구도 필요할 것이다.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.601-609
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the applicability of rational emotive behavior therapy(REBT) technique to the horticultural activity program as a method of reducing irrational beliefs and job-seeking stress, and improving career maturity through the change of irrational beliefs. The subjects were 30 university students with irrational beliefs, 15 of them in the control group and 15 in the experimental group. The horticultural therapy program was carried out in total 10 sessions once a week for one and a half hours. For irrational beliefs, the experimental group showed a significant decrease (p=.002) in the total score after the program, but the control group showed an insignificant change (p=.529). Total job-seeking stress score was decreased significantly in the experimental group (p=.002) after the program, whereas it was increased in the control group (p=.023). For the career maturity, the experimental group showed a significant increase (p=.008) in the total score, whereas the control group showed a significant decrease (p=.028). Therefore, it can be found that REBT applied horticultural activity programs are helpful for reducing irrational beliefs and job-seeking stress and improving career maturity for young adults.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 1991

Musculoskeletal disorders are a major cause of occupational disabilities. Approximately thirty percent state that the major reason for an inability to work is a musculoskeletal problem. A farm work is associated with increased stress and trauma to joints. Chronic overuse injuries are a result of stresses that exceed the body's adaptive or healing capabilities. They can occur in bone, tendons and muscle-tendon-bone junctions. The aim of the investigation was to the study the frequency of pain, ache, and discomfort in the musculoskeletal system among farmers, to find possible correlations between these symptoms and various working positions and different working actions. A questionnaire was answered by 138 farmers. Of those who answered the questionnaire 82% had pain and discomfort from back, shoulders, arms in orders, The result showed that musculoskeletal pain predominate in the farming seasons, and of those who had pain and discomfort 89% thought that farm works had a correlation with the pain and discomfort of musculoskeletal system. But only 17% of quationnaire were put to periodic medical examinations, and 50% of those who had pain and discomfort consulted a doctor. Education in effective pain treatment should therefore be intensifide to ascertain that farmers in rural areas have satisfactory knowledge of the musculoskeletal pain as a chronic overuse syndrome.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.231-238
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• 2018

Chlorophyll fluorescence, chlorophyll content, graft-taking and growth of grafted cucumber seedlings as affected by photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) of LED lamps were analyzed in this study. Four PPF levels, namely 25, 50, 100, $150{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ were provided to investigate the effect of light intensity on the chlorophyll fluorescence, chlorophyll content, graft-taking and growth of grafted cucumber seedlings. Air temperature, relative humidity, and photoperiod for graft-taking were maintained at $25^{\circ}C$, 90%, $16h{\cdot}d^{-1}$, respectively. Maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm) of rootstock as affected by PPF was found to be 0.84-0.85 and there was no significant change in Fv/Fm. Even though Fv/Fm of scion measured at 2 days after grafting was lowered to 0.81-0.82, after then it gradually increased with increasing PPF. At 4 days after grafting, the chlorophyll content extracted from scion increased with increasing PPF. Graft-taking ratio of grafted cucumber seedlings was 90-95% as PPF was ranged from $25{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ to $100{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$. However, the graft-taking ratio of grafted seedlings healed under PPF of $150{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ was decreased to 80%. Maximum PPF measured required for smooth joining of rootstock and scion was assumed to be $100{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$. At healing stage of grafted cucumber seedlings, Fv/Fm of scion decreased and at least two days after grafting were required for rooting of grafted seedlings. Chlorophyll fluorescence response of rootstock and scion was linked to light irradiation. Therefore, it was concluded that physical environment including light and humidity during healing process of grafted seedlings should be controlled more precisely to facilitate root formation and to prevent scion from lowering Fv/Fm. Further studies are required to investigate the effects of root development and joining of vascular bundles of grafted seedlings on the chlorophyll content of scion.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.90-107
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• 2024

This study analyzed the status of urban agricultural regulation of metropolitan governments on supporting multi-dimensional values to suggest a direction for improving urban agriculture regulations. Moreover, a Delphi survey was conducted to derive ways to identify improvement opportunities for functions that showed relatively insufficient support for urban agricultural regulations. As a result of the study, 12 out of 17 metropolitan governments and 116 of 226 municipalities have enacted urban agricultural regulations. However, the enactment of urban agricultural regulations has generally declined since 2011. Analysis of the contents of the urban agricultural regulations showed that they focused on matters relating to the creation and expansion of the foundation of urban agriculture. Among the multi-dimensional values of urban agricultural regulations, the foundation for supporting the securing of green spaces and utilizing food production functions was most widely available. On the other hand, the foundation for support of resource recycling, healing and health, social welfare, economic imbalance mitigation, and job creation functions has been shown to be relatively insufficient. A Delphi survey conducted to determine potential measures to improve urban agricultural regulations to support these functions found that 17 of the 18 ordinance improvement measures were valid. Therefore, to revitalize the multi-dimensional values of urban agriculture, it is first necessary to enact new ordinances. Also, to revitalize the multi-dimensional values of urban agriculture evenly, it is necessary to revise the ordinances to include resource recycling, healing and health, social welfare, mitigation of economic imbalances, and job creation functions. In this process, the development of urban agriculture technology, legal review of various urban farming spaces, and fostering of industries related to urban agriculture are necessary. Above all, steady interest in the multi-dimensional values of urban agriculture and the efforts of local governments to foster urban agriculture must be supported.