A Study on Users’ Perception of the Healing Power of Forest Environments: Focused on the Visitors of Bunseong Mountain

This study surveyed the general characteristics and forest use characteristics of forest visitors, the healing power of natural environments and Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) to find out whether humans can feel the healing effects of natural environments. The target area of this study was the natural environments of Bunseong Mountain in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam–do, Korea. A total of 50 questionnaires were analyzed. Female visitors and those aged between 40s to 60s accounted for 62% and over 70% respectively. All the surveyed respondents answered ‘yes’ to the question about the healing effects of Bunseong Mountain and natural environments, and 84% of them answered that they can get ‘psychological and physical healing’ in Bunseong Mountain. Many respondents chose oxygen, sunlight, and landscape as a healing factor. To the questions about the specific form or conditions of the natural environments that have the healing effects, those who answered ‘forest’ was the highest (72%), and they described thickness of forests, gentle slope and clean air as their conditions. The average score of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) using a 7-point Likert scale was 5.14. The results of this study indicate that respondents perceive Bunseong Mountain as a restorative environment and think that they can enjoy the healing effects of Bunseong Mountain and natural environments.