Effects of Forest Therapy Program on Stress levels and Mood State in Fire Fighters

Abstract

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.

Effects of a Forest Therapy Program on Reducing PTSD and Depression and Improving Mood States in Fire Officers

“…As a result of analyzing the psychological scales from the survey before and after participating in the forest therapy program, there was a decrease in PTSD and depression and an increase in mood states. This is consistent with the results that forest therapy programs reduce PTSD of fire officers and improve mood states (Park et al, 2019). This also supports the results of previous studies that programs in recreational forests reduce stress of fire officers (Shin et al, 2018), and aromatherapy, forest therapy, and meditation programs have a positive effect on the mental health of fire officers (Jo, 2014).…”

The Psychological Effects of a Campus Forest Therapy Program

“…To assess the effect of forest therapy on emotional state, the Korean version of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) was employed [40]. The POMS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing psychological distress [41,42] and has been used previously to estimate the influence of brief forest experience [19][20][21] as well as long-term forest therapy program on mood states [43,44]. The POMS measures six mood states: "tension-anxiety (T-A)" "depression-dejection (D)", "anger-hostility (A-H)" "fatigue (F)",' "confusion (C)", and "vigor (V)" [41,42].…”

An Integrative Literature Review on Psychological Intervention Research for Firefighters

“…국내의 경우는 대상자의 특성을 고려하지 않고 모든 소방공무원에게 동일한 중재를 제공하고 있었으며 [12][13][14], 같은 이론적 기틀을 사용하 였다 하더라도 중재 내용이 상이하고 [14][15][16], 일회성의 중재가 주를 이루었다 [13,17]. 또한, 중재를 제공하고 같은 효과변수를 살펴보더라도 측정도구가 다름을 확인할 수 있었다 [14,[17][18][19]. [7,11,13-15, 17-19,22-24,26], 우울을 측정한 논문 7편 [7,11,13,18,19,22,25],…”

“…스트레스 [13,23,24,28]와 인지 [2,22,27,29]를 측정한 논문 각 4편, 직무 스트레스 [12,24,25], 불안 [11,18,29], 대처 [2,11,25], 삶의 질 [14,22,26], 극복력 [2,16,27]을 측정한 논문 각 3편의 순으로 확인되었으며, 그 외에도 불면 [18,19], 유연성 [2,27], 기분변화 [17,28] [13][14][15]23,24,26], PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) [7,17,19] 순이었으며 우울 측정 은 Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) [13,18,22], Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) [7,19] 순으로 많이 사용됨을 확인하 였다. [11,22,26].…”

“…으로 노출 중재를 적용한 연구는 총 4편[11,22,28,29]이었다. 그 밖에 개인의 특성과 조직 환경을 동시에 고려하여 교육, 상 담, 집단 치료 등을 단계적으로 적용한 연구가 3편[7,18,19]이 었고, 숲 치유 프로그램[13,17], 음악 요법[12] 등의 활동치료를…”