Effects of Healing Forest Walks for Short Breaks on Mood State, Quality of Life, and Stress Reduction of University Hospital Workers

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of walking in the healing forests for short breaks on mood state, quality of life and stress reduction of hospital workers. For the study, 56 employees from Chungbuk University Hospital participated in the forest walks connected to the hospital using a short break three times a week for 20 minutes each for three weeks. The Korean Version of Profile of Mood States (K-POMS) and the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS-SF) were used as validated measurement tools to evaluate changes in mood state and job stress. A 5-point Likert scale was used for assessment of quality of life among employees. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed by paired t-test. As a result, tension, anger, confusion, and fatigue in mood state categories were decreased significantly and vigor was significantly increased after forest walks. Total mood disturbance was also decreased significantly. Quality of life for hospital workers was significantly improved after forest walks. In terms of job stress, average score of stress was significantly decreased after forest walks and especially stresses from the organizational system and improper reward were significantly decreased. The results of this study proved talking a short walk in the healing forests during breaks in daily work hours has a positive effect on mood state and life quality improvements and job stress reduction in hospital workers.