Evidence-Based Status of Forest Healing Program in South Korea

Sujin Park, Soojin Kim, Geonwoo Kim, Yeji Choi, Eunsoo Kim and Domyung Paek
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Sujin Park: Forest Policy and Economics Department, Forest Welfare Division, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Korea
Soojin Kim: Forest Policy and Economics Department, Forest Welfare Division, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Korea
Geonwoo Kim: Forest Policy and Economics Department, Forest Welfare Division, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Korea
Yeji Choi: Forest Policy and Economics Department, Forest Welfare Division, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Korea
Eunsoo Kim: Forest Policy and Economics Department, Forest Welfare Division, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Korea
Domyung Paek: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-16

Abstract: Various effects of forest healing on health have been reported, but a certification system to assess the effectiveness of forest healing programs does not exist. In this study, a systematic review (SR) on the “health benefits of forests” and “meta-analysis of forest therapy” was conducted after analyzing the status and level of evidence of 75 forest healing programs that were conducted post-certification in South Korea. The SR for “health benefits of forests” distinguished between activities and time, resulting in 90.9% of walking activities for more than an hour under psychological health, and 100.0% of exercise activities for less than an hour under physiological health. However, the effect of indirect activities performed for more than an hour was unknown. Thus, we confirmed that many indoor activities in the field had low effect size or no established basis regarding the feasibility of its operation. The SR on “meta-analysis of forest therapy” to check whether the program was effective. The highest number of healing effects were obtained for blood pressure (32), followed by psychological depression (24). The findings of this can serve as baseline data to facilitate future development and dissemination of evidence-based forest healing programs.

Keywords: forest healing; forest healing program; forest therapy; meta-analysis; systematic review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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