Pilot Project of Forest Bathing for Promoting Health

FOREST HEALTH: Pilot Project of Forest Bathing for Promoting Health, Human Wellbeing, and for Complementing Sustainable Management Forest and Landscape Practices

An exploratory trial using a cuasi-experimental design aimed to improve the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities. The intervention consists of 11 consecutive sessions of forest bathing (one session per week), each one lasting about 2 hours. Each session involves an easy walk through a forest area, interspersed with non-intrusive activities of contact with the surrounding nature aimed at fostering mindfulness and the use of the five senses. Data were collected at baseline, post intervention, and 7 months of follow-up.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Intellectual Disability
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Forest bathing

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 28
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Spain
  • Navarra
    • Pamplona, Navarra, Spain, 31008
      • Universidad de Navarra

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults with intellectual disability enrolled in a specific occupational center.
• Being informed about the study and having signed the informed consent document.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Having stated their not willing to participate in the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Forest bathing	Other: Forest bathing; The intervention consists of 11 consecutive sessions of forest bathing (one session per week), each one lasting about 2 hours. Each session involves an easy walk through a forest area, interspersed with non-intrusive activities of contact with the surrounding nature aimed at fostering mindfulness and the use of the five senses.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure		1 minute
Heart coherence	Using emWave Pro Plus device and software	5 minutes
Perceived quality of life and wellbeing	Using INICO-FEAPS questionnaire (Verdugo Alonso et al., 2013): Scale for the Integral Evaluation of the Quality of Life of people with intellectual or developmental disability, developed by the University Institute for Community Integration (INICO) and the Spanish Confederation of Organizations for People with Intellectual or Developmental Disability (FEAPS). It is a self-report tool that consists of 72 four-point Likert-type items divided among 8 dimensions: self-determination, rights, emotional wellbeing, social inclusion, personal development, interpersonal relationships, material well-being, and physical well-being. Each dimension is composed of nine items. Each subscale score is calculated by summing up the score for each of the nine items, and a total score is then calculated by summing up the scale scores. Higher scores are associated to better quality of life.	30 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Physiological Equivalent Temperature	Following Höppe (1999) procedure	10 minutes
Thermic perception	Using questionnaire published in previous studies (Teli et al., 2012; Trebilcock et al., 2017), that includes 3 items to assess thermal sensation vote (TMV) (7-point Likert scale), one item to assess thermal preference vote (TPV) (3-point scale), one item to assess the feeling of comfort (closed-answer), one item to get clothing information (closed-answer), and one item to evaluate the feeling of tiredness (3-point scale). The answers to these questions put the PET value (outcome 4) into context and help interpret it.	3 minutes
Barriers and facilitators	Field diary	2 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Universidad de Navarra
• Collaborators: Fundación La Caixa; Fundación Caja Navarra

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Höppe P. The physiological equivalent temperature - a universal index for the biometeorological assessment of the thermal environment. Int J Biometeorol. 1999 Oct;43(2):71-5.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 31, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): March 15, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 19, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 22, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): July 25, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 25, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 22, 2022
• Last Verified: July 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Intellectual Disability
• Other Study ID Numbers: BOSQUE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No