The Effect of Forest Healing Program on the Resilience of Elderly People in Urban Forest

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of forest healing programs in urban forest on resilience improvement of elderly people. Participants were 20 elderly people aged 65 or older. The study site is a city natural park located in the G city, which has a well-developed walkway along the ridge and valley, as well as on the lakeside. Forest healing programs consisted of four sessions focusing on forest walking and meditation as main activities. The Korean Resilience Quotient-53 was used to measure the resilience of the elderly before and after the forest healing program. As a result, The resilience of the elderly participated in the forest healing program was improved and the difference was statistically significant. Self-regulation ability and interpersonal ability, which are sub-factors of resilience, were also improved significantly. Positivity was increased also but the difference was not significant. These results suggest that forest healing programs using urban forests can improve the resilience of the elderly, overcome stress and depression, and improve the quality of life. However, there are some limitations to this study. Further investigation is required to determine the difference in program duration, gender and individual variation.