Study on the Influence of Forest Therapy on Healing Experience in Botanical Gardens.

The forest healing system is an important topic of alternative therapy in recent years. To study the influence of Forest therapy, the establishment of a pilot experimental model system in which both environmental factors and type of activity are necessary. Therefore, a system based on the Taipei Botanical Garden was introduced by this study.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Nature, Human
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: activities in the Botanical Garden or in urban

Detailed Description

The forest healing system is an important topic of alternative therapy in recent years. Forest therapy began in 1989 when the psychology professor Kaplan put forward the "Attention Restoration Theory(ART)". Awareness has a positive benefit. To study the influence of Forest therapy, the establishment of a pilot experimental model system in which both environmental factors and type of activity are controlled can greatly reduce the errors caused by the site and the content of the activity. Therefore, a randomized controlled crossover experiment based on the Taipei Botanical Garden was introduced by this study.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 42
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taipei, Taiwan, 10845
    • Taipei City Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 20 years to 35 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 20-35 years old youth (not limited to men and women)
• Those who have the ability and physical strength to walk for more than 120 minutes
• Subjects must voluntarily join the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• People who smoke or chew betel nuts
• People who have the habit of drinking (drinking more than five standard glasses in any situation)
• Drug addiction (including narcotic drugs and non-narcotics) habitual
• Those who have taken psychosomatic drugs in the past 30 days
• Participating in another clinical trial at the same time, or in the follow-up period of an interventional trial
• Those diagnosed with major injuries
• Women who are currently pregnant or breastfeeding
• Conditions where other subjects cannot cooperate (for example: unable to participate after random assignment, and not signing the subject's consent form)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: activities in the Botanical Garden or Urban; experiment group is activities in the Botanical Garden, and the control group is activities in urban	Behavioral: activities in the Botanical Garden or in urban; activities in the Taipei Botanical Garden or in Urban
Other: Cross-over design; The participants are randomized divided into in two groups following by the experiment which is designed by two consecutive times at one week intervals, and the experimental activities and the control activities are staggered.	Behavioral: activities in the Botanical Garden or in urban; activities in the Taipei Botanical Garden or in Urban

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
questionnaire: BPOMS (1st)	Change from baseline Brief Profile of Mood States at first intervention	baseline, pre-intervention(1st) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(1st)
questionnaire: BPOMS (2nd)	Change from Brief Profile of Mood States at second intervention after 7-day-washout period & cross-over	pre-intervention(2nd) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(2nd)
questionnaire: BAI (1st)	Change from baseline The Beck Anxiety Inventory at first intervention	baseline, pre-intervention(1st) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(1st)
questionnaire: BAI (2nd)	Change from The Beck Anxiety Inventory at second intervention after 7-day-washout	pre-intervention(2nd) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(2nd)
questionnaire: BDI-II (1st)	Change from baseline The Beck Depression Inventory II at first intervention	baseline, pre-intervention(1st) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(1st)
questionnaire: BDI-II (2nd)	Change from The Beck Depression Inventory II at second intervention after 7-day-washout	pre-intervention(2nd) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(2nd)
questionnaire: BSRS-V (1st)	Change from baseline Brief Symptom Rating Scale V at first intervention	baseline, pre-intervention(1st) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(1st)
questionnaire: BSRS-V (2nd)	Change from Brief Symptom Rating Scale V at second intervention after 7-day-washout	pre-intervention(2nd) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(2nd)
physiological indicator: alpha-amylase activity in salivary (1st)	Change from baseline alpha-amylase activity in salivary by using commercial kits (Salimetrics®) at first intervention	baseline, pre-intervention(1st) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(1st)
physiological indicator: alpha-amylase activity in salivary (2nd)	Change from alpha-amylase activity in salivary by using commercial kits (Salimetrics®) at second intervention after 7-day-washout	pre-intervention(2nd) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(2nd)
physiological indicator: HRV (Heart Rate Variability) (1st)	Change from baseline HRV by using wrist monitors (ANSWatch®) to measure heart rate, heart rate variability (related to activities of the autonomic nervous system ANS), irregular heartbeats (IRRHB), and 5-minute continuous pulse wave at first intervention	baseline, pre-intervention(1st) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(1st)
physiological indicator: HRV (Heart Rate Variability) (2nd)	Change from HRV by using wrist monitors (ANSWatch®) to measure heart rate, heart rate variability (related to activities of the autonomic nervous system ANS), irregular heartbeats (IRRHB), and 5-minute continuous pulse wave at second intervention after 7-day-washout	pre-intervention(2nd) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(2nd)
physiological indicator: blood pressures (systolic and diastolic) (1st)	Change from baseline blood pressures by using wrist monitors (ANSWatch®) to measure blood pressures (systolic and diastolic) at first intervention	baseline, pre-intervention(1st) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(1st)
physiological indicator: blood pressures (systolic and diastolic) (2nd)	Change from blood pressures by using wrist monitors (ANSWatch®) to measure blood pressures (systolic and diastolic) at second intervention after 7-day-washout	pre-intervention(2nd) → 2 hours intervention → immediately after the intervention(2nd)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Taipei City Hospital
• Investigators: Study Director: Chung-Hua Hsu, Branch of Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 27, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 27, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): October 26, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 8, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 26, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): February 8, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 8, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 26, 2022
• Last Verified: January 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Forest therapy
• Other Study ID Numbers: TCHIRB-11002014

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No