Physiological and Psychological Assessments for the Establishment of Evidence-Based Forest Healing Programs

Park, Su‐Jin; Choi, Yeji; Kim, Geonwoo; Kim, Eun-Soo; Kim, Soojin; Paek, Domyung

doi:10.3390/ijerph18179283

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 80 publications

(109 reference statements)

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“…We also tallied 81 different physiological measures, most of which assessed one or more aspects of heart rate (heart rate variability, RR interval) (n = 63, 46.7%) and blood pressure (systolic/diastolic) (n = 48, 35.6%) and tied to broader health concepts of stress-arousal and relaxation [90,91] (Table 1). Less-often studied measures include indicators of immune response and inflammation such as natural killer (NK) cell activity and inflammatory cytokines [64,92], physical health and mobility measures such as the Brief Physical Activity Assessment and Neck Disability Index [93,94], and cognitive function such as EEG [95,96].…”

Section: Outcome Measures Studiedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Therapy Trails: A Conceptual Framework and Scoping Review of Research

Gobster

Schultz²,

Kruger

et al. 2022

Forests

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While most definitions of forest therapy emphasize the role of multisensory, immersive experiences in nature to achieve human health and wellbeing outcomes, reviews of research on forest therapy to date have predominantly focused on outcomes and provide limited insight on the factors and conditions that give rise to nature experiences. In this scoping review we employ a conceptual framework developed in the context of landscape perception research to examine empirical studies of forest therapy in terms of how the fuller process of human, forest, interaction, and outcome components are conceptualized and measured. Our literature search identified 266 studies focused on forest therapy and related activities, which were coded on a number of variables related to each of the four components in our framework. While most studies reported positive mental and/or physiological health outcomes using a wide array of measures, the typical study used small, homogeneous samples of participants who engaged in limited interactions with a forest environment that was minimally described. However, our analysis also identified a wider range of findings with regard to human-forest interactions, which together provide important insights for guiding forest therapy research and the provision of forest therapy trails, settings, and programs.

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Section: Outcome Measures Studiedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Therapy Trails: A Conceptual Framework and Scoping Review of Research

Gobster

Schultz²,

Kruger

et al. 2022

Forests

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“…One study evaluated health outcomes immediately after program completion and 3, 4, and 7 days later [5], while another explored the effects immediately after program completion and Forests 2023, 14, 2236 2 of 12 2 and 4 weeks later [6]. In contrast to most forest therapy program studies that have predominantly examined short-term effects, a few preceding studies have investigated long-term effects up to 4 weeks after program completion [6,7]. Specifically, considered the long-term effects over four weeks to overcome the limitation of primarily focusing on the short-term effects of forest therapy programs [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast to most forest therapy program studies that have predominantly examined short-term effects, a few preceding studies have investigated long-term effects up to 4 weeks after program completion [6,7]. Specifically, considered the long-term effects over four weeks to overcome the limitation of primarily focusing on the short-term effects of forest therapy programs [7]. However, the long-term effects have received little attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of a Forest Therapy Program on Physical Health, Mental Health, and Health Behaviors

Chun,

Cho,

Choi

et al. 2023

Forests

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(1) Background: Although interest in the health-promoting effects of forest therapy is increasing, few researchers have investigated the mid-long-term impact of such therapy on health indicators or exercise behaviors. We explored changes in physical health, mental health, and exercise behaviors 1, 2, and 4 weeks after a forest therapy program concluded. We sought to establish a solid foundation for such programs and a standardized evaluation system. (2) Method: We measured the blood pressure and heart rate variability of 99 adults before and after participation in a forest therapy program. We used the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to assess anxiety, the Beck Depression Inventory to evaluate both anxiety and depression, the Profile of Mood States to explore mood, the Euro-Quality of Life-5 Dimension scale to assess the overall quality of life, and the Positive and Negative Effect Schedule to measure positive and negative mood. We employed the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire to determine exercise time, intensity, and changes in exercise type before the program and 1–4 weeks after program completion. (3) Results: Anxiety, depression, mood, quality of life, heart rate, and blood pressure control improved significantly after the program. The reduced depression and increased medium-intensity exercise time persisted for 1, 2, and 4 weeks after the end of the program. (4) Conclusions: We tracked various health indicators and clearly distinguished those that were useful in the short term from those more appropriate for evaluation in the long term. This is the first report to show that a forest therapy program affects exercise behavior; this suggests that health behaviors should be continuously tracked.

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“…In addition, studies on forest therapy are conducted by analyzing its effect on health promotion through diverse subjects (Song and Bang, 2017;Lee et al, 2023;Lee et al, 2016;Chae and Lee, 2020), and continuous efforts are made to reveal the acceptable medical effects in health and medical care (Park et al, 2021b). However, there has been no explicit agreement on the concept of the medical effects of forest therapy or the research methods to reveal them.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Trends on the Effects of Forest Therapy in Korea and Ways to Improve the Level of Medical Evidence: A Scoping Review

Lee,

Joung,

Kwon

et al. 2023

J. People Plants Environ

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Background and objective: Studies on the effects of forest therapy are clinical research that reveals the effects suitable for the purpose of therapy by applying a forest therapy program, which is a complex intervention, to humans in various forest environments. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to find out the characteristics of existing studies on the effects of forest therapy and to suggest ways to improve the level of evidence for future research results. In this study, a scoping review was conducted to find out how studies on the effects of forest therapy were conducted based on the medical clinical research method in domestic studies on the effects of forest therapy.Methods: The scoping review utilized a procedure proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). A total of 564 studies were searched and 57 were used in the final analysis.Results: As a result of the analysis, only 1 study (1.8%) had a manual to reproduce the forest therapy program, and 56 studies (98.2%) reported only brief information on the program. As for the report on forest therapy environments, there were articles that mentioned some therapy environments, but none predicted the effects or reported about reproducibility. Among the reports on forest therapy environments, 21.1% reported about both forest and thermal environments, and 26.3% reported only about the forest environment.Conclusion: From the perspective of clinical research, the level of evidence for studies on the effects of forest therapy so far has been found to be very low, and methods for applying clinical research methods to improve this have been discussed. Clinical research is a prerequisite for verifying medical effects in order to raise the level of forest therapy from wellness to treatment support activities, and it must be actively utilized in the future.

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Physiological and Psychological Assessments for the Establishment of Evidence-Based Forest Healing Programs

Cited by 6 publications

References 80 publications

Forest Therapy Trails: A Conceptual Framework and Scoping Review of Research

Forest Therapy Trails: A Conceptual Framework and Scoping Review of Research

Effects of a Forest Therapy Program on Physical Health, Mental Health, and Health Behaviors

Research Trends on the Effects of Forest Therapy in Korea and Ways to Improve the Level of Medical Evidence: A Scoping Review

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