Analysis of Urban Forest Healing Program Expected Values, Needs, and Preferred Components in Urban Forest Visitors with Diseases: A Pilot Survey.

Kwang-Hi Park

doi:10.3390/ijerph19010513

Abstract

Although the effectiveness of urban forest therapy has been studied and proven, most people are not well aware of the positive healing effects of urban forests that are easily accessible in daily life compared to the known healing effect of forests located outside urban areas. In addition, there has been a study on the analysis of urban forest healing program needs in the general population, but there is a lack of evidence on the expected values and needs of urban forest healing for people with diseases. Therefore, this pilot survey aimed to investigate the expected values, needs, and preferred components of urban forest healing programs in urban forest visitors with disease via an online user survey and see if there were any differences in the purpose of the urban forest visits and expected values of urban forest healing depending on the type of disease. The survey was conducted on 294 urban forest visitors with diseases. About 79% of respondents agreed with the healing effects of urban forest, however most respondents expected healing effects on mental health rather than on physical health (“mood change” was the highest with score of 4.43/5, followed by “reliving stress” (4.35/5) and “mental and physical stability” (4.31/5)). In addition, more than 82.0% of respondents agreed to participate in the program if a healing program for disease was developed. The results of the current pilot survey indicate that the purpose of the urban forest visits and expected values of urban forest healing were largely not different by the type of disease, and people with disease had a relatively lower awareness and lower expected values of urban forest healing effects on physical health, but high demand for the program. Urban forest therapy programs should be developed based on the specific clinical characteristics of the disease to maximize the effectiveness of the program. Additionally, policies should be implemented to promote the beneficial effects of urban forest healing not only for mental health but also for physical health.

Highlights

Forest healing, which is a practice comprising of activities utilizing forests to improve immunity, mental health and physical health has been established as a culture in SouthKorea, with annual visits to forests exceeding one million in 2014 [1]
Multiple responses were available if there were more disease other than the primary disease, and 83 respondents had more than two diseases
This pilot survey aimed to investigate the expected values, needs, and preferred components of urban forest healing programs in urban forest visitors with disease and see if there were any significant differences depending on the type of disease through a user survey

Summary

Introduction

Forest healing, which is a practice comprising of activities utilizing forests to improve immunity, mental health and physical health has been established as a culture in SouthKorea, with annual visits to forests exceeding one million in 2014 [1]. The number of visitors to forest healing centers has rapidly increased over time to reach 76,000 in 2010, 1.15 million in 2014, and 2.27 million 2019 in South Korea. The number of users of forest healing programs in the country has surged to 1067 in 2009, 1.7 million in 2015, and 1.8 million in 2019 [1]. In South Korea, most of the national and public healing forests are located on average 90 min away from metropolitan cities, by car. It is difficult for the mobility disabled, elderly, pregnant women, and those with diseases affecting movement, to use the healing forests due to the

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