Effects of Mobile-Based Forest-Therapy Programs Using Urban Forests for Symptoms of Depressed Patients-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Effects of Mobile-Based Forest-Therapy Programs Using Urban Forests for Symptoms of Depressed Patients

Published:2023-11-25 Issue:23 Volume:11 Page:3039
ISSN:2227-9032
Container-title:Healthcare
language:en
Short-container-title:Healthcare

Author:

Yeon Poung-Sik¹,Kim In-Ok²,Kang Si-Nae²,Lee Nee-Eun²,Kim Ga-Yeon²,Shim Ha-Rim²,Chung Chung-Yeub³,Lee Jung-Sok⁴,Jeon Jin-Young⁵^ORCID,Shin Won-Sop¹^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Forest Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea

2. Graduated Department of Forest Therapy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea

3. Gwanghwamun Forest Psychiatric Clinic, Seoul 03156, Republic of Korea

4. Maumlab, Seoul 03156, Republic of Korea

5. Korea Forest Therapy Forum Incorporated Association, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of mobile-based forest therapy programs on relieving depression to advance non-pharmaceutical treatments for patients with depression. The effects of depression, sleep quality, and physical symptoms were analyzed as measurement indicators to determine the effectiveness of symptom relief in patients with depression. This study used a randomized controlled experiment design. Participants were randomly assigned, and a total of 44 people participated, including 23 in the experimental group and 21 in the control group. The experimental group participated in a mobile-based forest therapy program (participating once a week) for six sessions. As a result of this study, depression patients who participated in the mobile-based forest therapy program conducted in urban forests showed a significant reduction in MADRS (from 21.48 ± 4.05 to 7.13 ± 7.00). In addition, PSQI (from 19.78 ± 7.69 to 14.48 ± 8.11) and PHQ-15 (from 9.87 ± 5.08 to 7.57 ± 5.03) were also found to significantly improve symptoms. This suggests that forest-therapy programs using mobile applications can be applied as non-pharmaceutical interventions to relieve symptoms in patients with depression.

Funder

R&D program for Forest Science Technology

Korea Forest Service

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Health Information Management,Health Informatics,Health Policy,Leadership and Management

Link

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/11/23/3039/pdf

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