Forest welfare services - the missing link between forest policy and management in the EU

Dodev, Yonko; Zhiyanski, Miglena; Glushkova, Maria; Shin, Won-sop

doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102249

Cited by 20 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…More recently, official recommendations for the promotion of forest therapy programs were issued in Western Europe, such as in the UK [ 32 ] and in Italy, where forest therapy was recognized as a socio-cultural service of the forest environments [ 33 ]. However, the exploitation of forest welfare services in Europe, aimed at tackling a number of social and demographic problems of European societies, is still a long way off, and the Forest Policy for Human Well-Being in South Korea was recently proposed as a useful model [ 34 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during COVID-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Values

Zabini

Albanese

Becheri

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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The prolonged lockdown imposed to contain the COrona VIrus Disease 19 COVID-19 pandemic prevented many people from direct contact with nature and greenspaces, raising alarms for a possible worsening of mental health. This study investigated the effectiveness of a simple and affordable remedy for improving psychological well-being, based on audio-visual stimuli brought by a short computer video showing forest environments, with an urban video as a control. Randomly selected participants were assigned the forest or urban video, to look at and listen to early in the morning, and questionnaires to fill out. In particular, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Form Y collected in baseline condition and at the end of the study and the Part II of the Sheehan Patient Rated Anxiety Scale (SPRAS) collected every day immediately before and after watching the video. The virtual exposure to forest environments showed effective to reduce perceived anxiety levels in people forced by lockdown in limited spaces and environmental deprivation. Although significant, the effects were observed only in the short term, highlighting the limitation of the virtual experiences. The reported effects might also represent a benchmark to disentangle the determinants of health effects due to real forest experiences, for example, the inhalation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during COVID-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Values

Zabini

Albanese

Becheri

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…The mobilization of financial resources and the introduction of specific legislative elements aimed at promoting, standardizing and regulating forest therapy programs were deemed essential to the effective management of the forest ecosystems towards human health [5]. More specifically, based on the evidence shown in this study, further fundamental challenges consist in the information, education and motivation of health facilities and professionals, as well as of citizens, towards green prescriptions, which have been issued for years in countries like Japan and South Korea [29].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such benefits cover primarily the psychological sphere (mental processes, stress, anxiety and emotions), cognitive processes, social life (skills, interactions, behavior and lifestyle), and spiritual wellbeing. On the physiological side, significant effects emerged with regards to the improvement of the cardiovascular functions and the hemodynamic, neuroendocrine, metabolic, immune, inflammatory and oxidative indexes [5,6]. However, as pointed out by a recent comprehensive review, the impact on the psychophysical well-being of human immersion in forest environments was by far the most studied and revealed statistically significant and sometimes intense results [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The benefits and potential of forest therapy were officially recognized by the United Nations in the framework of the green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemics [28]. The main challenges were identified in informing, educating and persuading healthcare systems and professionals and citizens with regard to green prescriptions, for example based on those that have been issued for years in Japan and South Korea [5,29,30]. In those countries, but also in Taiwan and China, green prescriptions have been framed into preventive medicine, as a means to improve physiological health and ease stress levels [31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Short-term Psychological Effects of Forest Therapy: Early Evidence in Italy

Meneguzzo¹,

Antonelli²,

Baraldi³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Immersion in forest environments was shown to produce beneficial effects to human health, in particular psychophysical relaxation, so much that this practice is increasingly recognized as a form of integrative medicine. Limited evidence exists about both statistical significance and size of the effects conditioned on personal characteristics, as well as on the main external variables. The primary purpose of this study was to substantiate the very concept of forest therapy by means of the quantification and significance of the psychological effects, stratified by gender, age groups and place of residence. A preliminary qualitative analysis of the main determinants, in particular the method of conducting, the meteorological comfort and the concentration of volatile organic compounds in the forest atmosphere, was afforded. Seven forest therapy sessions were performed in late summer though early fall, resulting in 150 psychological self-assessment questionnaires administered before and after each session. The results were comparable or even better than others reported in the international literature. Moreover, preliminary evidence arose about different functionality towards specific psychological indexes conditioned at least on gender and age groups, as well as meteorological comfort, structured programs and, possibly, volatile organic compounds showed an impact on the outcomes.

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“…More recently, official recommendations for the promotion of forest therapy programs were issued in Western Europe, such as in the UK [27], and in Italy, where forest therapy was recognized as a socio-cultural service of the forest environments [28]. However, the exploitation of forest welfare services in Europe, aimed at tackling a number of social and demographic problems of European societies, is still a long way off, and the Forest Policy for Human Well-being in South Korea was recently proposed as a useful model [29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during Covid-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Value

Zabini¹,

Albanese²,

Becheri³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The prolonged lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic prevented many people from direct contact with nature and greenspaces, raising alarms for a possible worsening of mental health. This study investigates the effectiveness of a simple and affordable remedy for improving psychological well-being, based on audio-visual stimuli brought by a short computer video showing forest environments, with an urban video as a control. Randomly selected participants were assigned the forest or urban video, to look at and listen early in the morning, and filled questionnaires. In particular, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Form Y, collected in baseline condition and at the end of the study, and the Part II of the Sheehan Patient Rated Anxiety Scale (SPRAS), collected every day immediately before and after watching the video. The virtual exposure to forest environments showed effective to reduce perceived anxiety levels in in people forced by lockdown in limited spaces and environmental deprivation. Although significant, the effects were observed only in the short term, highlighting the limitation of the virtual experiences. The reported effects might also represent a benchmark to disentangle the determinants of health effects due to real forest experiences, for example, the inhalation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC).

show abstract

Forest welfare services - the missing link between forest policy and management in the EU

Cited by 20 publications

References 43 publications

Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during COVID-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Values

Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during COVID-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Values

Short-term Psychological Effects of Forest Therapy: Early Evidence in Italy

Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during Covid-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Value

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