The Effectiveness of a Forest-experience-integration Intervention for Community Dwelling Cancer Patients' Depression and Resilience

J. People Plants Environ

Park

2020

Patients diagnosed with cancer face mental problems such as alienation, isolation, anxiety about death and fear, recovering from psychological difficulties. In this study, a forest healing program was provided for cancer patients to recover from psychological stress, depression, social isolation and self-esteem caused by cancer and changes in salivary cortisol through psychological and emotional recovery were measured. From September 19 to November 28, 2017, a forest healing program composed of a total of 10 sessions, two hours per session was provided for 12 cancer patients in the Forest of Taegyo located in Yongin. Psychological tests were performed with Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale (SASS), Korean-version Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the collected data were analyzed with the SPSS 18.0. The salivary cortisol level was measured along with the psychological tests and were analyzed by a specialized testing agency. The results of the analysis showed that the pre-and post-assessment score of SASS was 29.17 and 25.92, respectively, and that the pre-and post-assessment score of PSS was 30.50 and 23.92, respectively. The pre-and post-assessment score of BDI was 41.00 and 34.83, respectively, which showed significant differences. In addition, the pre-and post-assessment level of saliva cortisol was 3.13 and 1.68, respectively, showing a significant decrease. In short, the forest healing program was found to be effective in reducing physiological changes caused by social isolation and stress due to the emotional and psychological difficulties that the subjects who were diagnosed with cancer and were recovering from it have. In the future, it will be necessary to develop and implement a forest healing program by conducting a forest healing requirement survey on cancer patients.

Section: Data Collection and Analysis Methodssupporting

confidence: 85%

Effects of Forest Healing Program on Depression, Stress and Cortisol Changes of Cancer Patients

J. People Plants Environ

Park

2020

“…Other scales used to measure depression were the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) [38], Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression [17], Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scales [17], Symptom Check List (SCL-90-R) [32], and Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) [36]. Fourteen studies [13,15,17,18,19,21,22,23,24,25,26,28,29,39] used both self-report, paper-and-pencil questionnaires, and physiological measures, while 14 studies [12,14,16,20,27,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38] used only self-report, paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Physiological or objective measures included heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure, heart rate, and amylase concentration.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the SIGN checklist, ten out of the twenty-eight studies [16,18,19,20,21,23,25,30,34,37] met an “acceptable quality” rating and the rest eighteen studies were rated as low quality [12,13,14,15,17,22,24,26,27,28,29,31,32,33,35,36,38,39]. Six studies [16,18,19,20,21,22] used random allocations; however, no detailed description of the procedure was provided except two studies [18,20].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Forest Therapy on Depressive Symptoms among Adults: A Systematic Review

Choi

Bang

et al. 2017

IJERPH

138

151

This study systematically reviewed forest therapy programs designed to decrease the level of depression among adults and assessed the methodological rigor and scientific evidence quality of existing research studies to guide future studies. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The authors independently screened full-text articles from various databases using the following criteria: (1) intervention studies assessing the effects of forest therapy on depressive symptoms in adults aged 18 years and older; (2) studies including at least one control group or condition; (3) peer-reviewed studies; and (4) been published either in English or Korean before July 2016. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network measurement tool was used to assess the risk of bias in each trial. In the final sample, 28 articles (English: 13, Korean: 15) were included in the systematic review. We concluded that forest therapy is an emerging and effective intervention for decreasing adults’ depression levels. However, the included studies lacked methodological rigor. Future studies assessing the long-term effect of forest therapy on depression using rigorous study designs are needed.

“…Other scales used to measure depression were the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) [38], Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression [17], Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scales [17], Symptom Check List (SCL-90-R) [32], and Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) [36]. Fourteen studies [13,15,[17][18][19][21][22][23][24][25][26]28,29,39] used both self-report, paper-and-pencil questionnaires, and physiological measures, while 14 studies [12,14,16,20,27,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] used only selfreport, paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Physiological or objective measures included heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure, heart rate, and amylase concentration.…”

Section: Depression Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the SIGN checklist, ten out of the twenty-eight studies [16,[18][19][20][21]23,25,30,34,37] met an "acceptable quality" rating and the rest eighteen studies were rated as low quality [12][13][14][15]17,22,24,[26][27][28][29][31][32][33]35,36,38,39]. Six studies [16,[18][19][20][21][22] used random allocations; however, no detailed description of the procedure was provided except two studies [18,20].…”

Section: Quality Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Forest Therapy on Depressive Symptoms among Adults: A Systematic Review

Choi

Bang

et al. 2017

Preprint

This study systematically reviewed forest therapy programs designed to decrease the level of depression among adults and assessed the methodological rigor and scientific evidence quality of existing research studies to guide future studies. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The authors independently screened full-text articles from various databases using the following criteria: (1) intervention studies assessing the effects of forest therapy on depressive symptoms in adults aged 18 years and older; (2) studies including at least one control group or condition; (3) peer-reviewed studies; and (4) been published either in English or Korean before July 2016. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network measurement tool was used to assess the risk of bias in each trial. In the final sample, 28 articles (English: 13, Korean: 15) were included in the systematic review. We concluded that forest therapy is an emerging and effective intervention for decreasing adults' depression levels. However, the included studies lacked methodological rigor. Future studies assessing the long-term effect of forest therapy on depression using rigorous study designs are needed.