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. 2023 Nov 25;11(23):3039.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare11233039.

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

Poung-Sik Yeon  1 , In-Ok Kim  2 , Si-Nae Kang  2 , Nee-Eun Lee  2 , Ga-Yeon Kim  2 , Ha-Rim Shim  2 , Chung-Yeub Chung  3 , Jung-Sok Lee  4 , Jin-Young Jeon  5 , Won-Sop Shin  1
Affiliations

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

Poung-Sik Yeon et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

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.

Keywords: depression; forest therapy; mobile healthcare; urban forest.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mobile-based forest therapy program’s main activity place. (https://maps.app.goo.gl/VFxM758GNJZkHMUS9, accessed on 22 September 2023). (a) Ginkgo Forest (Meditation activity), (b) Forest Road (Five sense health walk), (c) Scent Garden (Emotional recognition activity), (d) Korean pine Tree Forest (Stretching), and (e) forest next to Butterfly Garden.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Activities of mobile-based forest-therapy program. (a) Walking on five senses of health (scent stimulation); (b) body scan (meditation); (c) finding emotions; and (d) stretching.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Activities of mobile-based forest-therapy program. (a) Walking on five senses of health (scent stimulation); (b) body scan (meditation); (c) finding emotions; and (d) stretching.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Guide to the mobile-based forest-therapy program of the ‘Metri’ application. (a) Forest- therapy program start screen; (b) Forest-therapy program video providing screen; (c) Forest- therapy Program Location Information Screen; (d) Forest-therapy program end screen.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Results of measurement for pre- and post-test MADRS. Notes: MBFT: mobile-based forest therapy, **: p < 0.01.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results of measurement for pre- and post-test PSQI. Notes: MBFT: mobile-based forest therapy, **: p < 0.01.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Results of measurement for pre- and post-test PHQ-15. Notes: MBFT: mobile-based forest therapy, **: p < 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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