• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.481-488
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to suggest how to manage healing forests. Field investigation and surveys were conducted to produce results and 313 questionnaires collected from workers in the forestry sector and ordinary people were analyzed. The results were as follows: it is required to preserve flowering plants, scenic trees, and ecological trees in the understory vegetation, and to remove trees that block the forest landscape, leaving about 50 to 60 percent of the understory vegetation. The preferred density order of broadleaf trees was analyzed as follows: Betula platyphylla > Liriodendron tulipifera > Quercus acutissima. The preferred density order of coniferous trees was analyzed as follows: Abies holophylla > Cryptomerias japonica and Chameacyparis obtusa > Larix kaempferi > Pinus densiflora > Pinus koraiensis. The preferred density in healing forests was 81-89% compared to the number of residual trees for quantitative thinning. Specifically, the preferred density were 87% for P. koraiensis, 86% for L. kaempferi, 81% for P. densiflora, 83% for C. japonica, 84% for C. obtusa and 89% for Q. acutissima. In the case of healing forests, it is recommended to periodically conduct a small-scale thinning with different densities according to the species and diameter of trees based on the results of this study.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.37-48
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• 2010

This study analyzes the present condition of the elements of a healing environment of the waiting rooms in outpatient clinics of children' hospitals (3 hospitals in Seoul) so as to propose a design to build a healing environment within the children' hospital. And analyzing the importance, satisfaction and preference of the healing environment in the waiting rooms, this paper has come to the following conclusions: 1)The study shows that the space structure of outpatient clinics in children' hospitals are composed of 1 story or 2 stories and designed in a duplication design or a dispersed alcove design. 2)The waiting room of the SC Hospital, with an area of 66.56$m^2$, and the waiting room of the SU Hospital, with an area of 38.78$m^2$ received the highest score for its space. 3)As most patients visit the hospital with their guardian, the waiting room should also be someplace families can rest and share information with others. 4)It is essential to build an environment that eliminates stress elements that patients may come to face by minimizing noise and elements that obstruct the view for mental stability. 5)The results show that those who took part in the survey preferred the following, respectively, healing environment design for the waiting room in the outpatient clinic at children' hospital: Pleasantness>Easiness in finding one' destination>Artificial materials>Natural materials>Environment like that at home>Co-promotion spaces>Space that supports the patients'activities>Openness>Sociality>Safety/Security>Approachability and Privacy. The results also show that healing conditions respect these preferences.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.131-141
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• 2021

The present study is following a series of research investigations on design resources coming from collected data referring to users' awareness and preferences. The aim of this research is to test the Healthcare Environmental Color Index as a basis for practitioners in the field of healthcare design. An array of color samples selected from previous research, have been presented to the respondents via an online survey, in order to identify the preferences of the two groups on the relation between environmental color and health. As a result of the first experiment and through the comparison of processed data, the maximum percentage of respondents from each group is validating the relation between environmental color and health. For the second experiment we intend to highlight the patterns of color preferences for each group, and thus to test the color samples healing function. The compared data also showed a higher awareness of Koreans than Romanians on the potential of color applied to healing environment. Last but not least in the third experiment we show the top five color samples preferred by each group. It is significant that the comparison of the results validated once more some of our previous findings related to the healthcare environment, such as: the general preference for the green hue (associated to fatigue relax according to color psychology) and the blue hue (sedation release effect) but also the yellow hue - associated to bright energy. Three out of the top five preferred color samples have been identical to both groups while the other two samples have shown characteristic variations. These results show that similarities are strong and can be used in a glocal design strategy as an accessible tool for any practitioner. Based on the Healthcare Environmental Color Index and users' preferences analysis, a new design culture for healthcare can be established and developed.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2021

Purpose: The relationship between the staff area and the patient's private area is the key factor in designing the structure and the environmental characteristics of ward spaces in a psychiatric hospital. Recent research has found that for the purpose of treatment and securing privacy, psychiatric patients need to be in an open space of relief rather than closed confined environment and under the watch of nursing staffs. Methods: A survey at three kinds of wards in a private psychiatric hospital in Japan was conducted in October 2002. These wards include an acute ward, a psychiatric convalescence ward, and a stress care ward. All three kinds of wards have the same structure. At each ward, spatial preferences of the 145 psychiatric inpatients were surveyed and data concerning the patient's diagnostic category, symptoms, and activities of daily living were recorded. Results: The patients in the stress care ward prefer to stay in private spaces than public spaces. On the other hand, in the acute ward the patients seem to have a preference between managed public spaces where are monitored by nursing staffs and their private rooms where the nurse station is close. In addition, the patients in the psychiatric convalescence ward spend most of their time in the public space, such as the hallways or the day room. Implications: Base on this research, the spaces at the acute ward that could be monitored by the nursing station serves effectively as a safety space for patients was concluded. However, in the stress care ward, the patients may perceive the monitoring by the nursing staff as interruption or nuisance to their relaxation. In order to design an ideal healing environment for psychiatric patients in psychiatric ward, it is important to consider how environmental characteristics of space affect the environmental sense of patients in each ward.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2022

A Care farm is known to have positive effects on various people in psychological, physical, and social aspects. However, care farm services for the disabled, transportation disadvantaged, and socially disadvantaged are limited. This study conducted a demand survey in order to provide basic data for development of the Agro-Healing Virtual Reality Therapy(AVRT) system. The respondents were the ordinary person(n=127) and the disabled person(n=72), and the survey items consisted of 4 categories and 20 items, including intention to use AVRT, requirements for use, factors to be considered when developing the system, and content and program preferences. The intention to use a AVRT was found to be at a high level of 80% or more by respondent characteristics. In addition, similar results were shown in all items such as virtual reality experience, willingness to use, appropriate use time, and willingness to pay by respondent characteristics, and correlation by item was determined through correlation analysis. As for the conditions of use, both sides preferred rural types and were found to have the purpose of healing. However, there were concerns about dizziness in common between system use, and in the case of the disabled person, there were difficulties in purchasing expensive equipment. In the development of the AVRT system, the part of sensory priority, important technology level, and color preference were evaluated, and the preference of content and programs to be developed in the system was identified. Fruit, vegetables, flowers, and animals preferred mandarin, tomato, tulips, and dogs first, horticultural healing preferred harvest management for the ordinary person, plant cultivation for the disabled person, and forest healing and animal education preferred walking and dog-related programs. However, agricultural work was found to be a program with high preference for making processed foods for the ordinary person and creating an animal breeding environment for the disabled person. The result of this study is expected to provide reference data that can be suggested for the development of Agro-healing Virtual Reality Therapy system.

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

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.463-471
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• 2012

Objective of this study is to provide basic information for developing more differentiated and targeted forest healing policy and Korean medical healing programs grounded on consumer preference for forest based Korean medical healing tourism products. The internet survey(CAWI) by percentage quota sampling with 400 Seoulite ages over 30 by the age, area, and gender was conducted, and 317 samples were used for a final analysis. 61.5% of the Seoulite associated 'forest bath/walking in the woods/tree' with an image of a forest based Korean medical healing tourism product, and preference for the product and the intention to use were positive at the percentages of 72.9% and 67.5%, respectively. Preferred areas were Seoul/Gyeonggi-do(53.5%) and Gangwon-do(38.8%). 'Stress solving and refreshment', 'taking a forest bath and a walk', and 'maintaining and promoting health' were the main purposes of the use. As for a therapy, 'walking therapy' was most preferred, and 'ergotherapy' was the next. First priority as for a use facility was 'healing trail', and 'professional medical facility' ranked second. Although important decision attributes were ' cost of use', 'food', and 'friendliness of medical staff', all the other sets of attributes related to use convenience, quality of medical service and tourism activities also recorded high, which forecasts higher consumer expectation for the product. As the result showing differences in consumer preference by the demographic segmentation, differentiated and segmented consumer needs should be considered when planing and managing a product. The scope of the study is limited to a demographic segmentation which is a basic stage of understanding consumer preference, therefore more detailed future researches on complicated and multi-dimensional consumer needs are required.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.521-535
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• 2020

Background and objective: This study investigated plant type and color preference and conducted a psychological assessment for gardening activities of firefighters in a high-risk occupational group. Methods: A survey was conducted on 117 firefighters aged 39.01±9.17 in Sunchang in March 2020 to examine their preferences in plant type and color and conduct a psychological assessment of firefighters on gardening activities. Results: For plant experience and awareness, plant-related event showed the highest score, followed by plant preference tendency and plant growing experience. The level of plant gardening activities was higher among older age and higher job position. As a result of examining the quality of life according to the demographic characteristic with WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument), it was found that the quality of life was higher among the 20s-30s than 50s, firefighter position than fire lieutenant or higher, those with higher average monthly income, and the singles group than married (p < .05). The administration group showed lower scores than the fire suppression group working in the field, showing statistical significance. Most firefighters showed high preference for herbal plants among the 12 types of flowering plants, in the order of Rosmarinus officinalis>Lavandula spp.>Mentha piperita, Calendula officinalis. Pelargonium spp. was preferred the least out of the flowering plants, Lycopersicon esculentum was preferred the most out of 12 types of vegetable plants, while Angelica acutiloba was preferred the least statistical significance. For the preference of plant colors, yellow was the most preferred color, followed by white, blue, orange, red, and green, showing statistical significance. For the psychological survey responses of emotion words toward 6 plants colors, it was found that 'bright' was the emotion felt most strongly by the white, yellow, and orange groups, 'calm' and 'comfortable' by the green and blue groups, and 'fancy' by the red group. Conclusion: The effect of agro-healing programs can be increased by using mostly yellow plants when creating indoor healing gardens at the workplaces of fire officials in a high-risk occupational group, and using herbal plants and Lycopersicon esculentum in the gardens for agro-healing activities.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 2011

The visual sensory information in physical environments can induce or reduce occupants' stress. In healthcare settings, positive environmental stimulations can promote patient well-being by reducing their stress: poor health environments work against a patient's health. Changing the color in a patient room is an inexpensive process and thus finding better colors for healthcare settings is a cost effective method of improving healing environments. Color may have important implications for pediatric patients, but the investigation of Korean populations has been non-existent. The purpose of this study was to investigate Korean pediatric patients' color preferences for patient room design. The color preferences from 50 Korean pediatric patients were recorded and investigated for gender effects. A simulation method was used because of its reliability and feasibility, allowing for investigating the value of color in real contexts and controlling confounding variables. The overall color preferences from Korean pediatric patients showed that they preferred blue the most and white the least. Gender differences were found in red and purple. Girls preferred red and purple more than boys. The results from this study can help healthcare providers and designers better understand appropriate colors for Korean pediatric patient populations.

• 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.