Analysis of Plant Type and Color Preference and Psychological Assessment for Gardening Activities of Firefighters

Background and objective: This study investigated plant type and color preference and conducted a psychological assessment for gardening activities of firefighters in a high-risk occupational group. Methods: A survey was conducted on 117 firefighters aged 39.01±9.17 in Sunchang in March 2020 to examine their preferences in plant type and color and conduct a psychological assessment of firefighters on gardening activities. Results: For plant experience and awareness, plant-related event showed the highest score, followed by plant preference tendency and plant growing experience. The level of plant gardening activities was higher among older age and higher job position. As a result of examining the quality of life according to the demographic characteristic with WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument), it was found that the quality of life was higher among the 20s-30s than 50s, firefighter position than fire lieutenant or higher, those with higher average monthly income, and the singles group than married (p < .05). The administration group showed lower scores than the fire suppression group working in the field, showing statistical significance. Most firefighters showed high preference for herbal plants among the 12 types of flowering plants, in the order of Rosmarinus officinalis&#10217;Lavandula spp.&#10217;Mentha piperita, Calendula officinalis. Pelargonium spp. was preferred the least out of the flowering plants, Lycopersicon esculentum was preferred the most out of 12 types of vegetable plants, while Angelica acutiloba was preferred the least statistical significance. For the preference of plant colors, yellow was the most preferred color, followed by white, blue, orange, red, and green, showing statistical significance. For the psychological survey responses of emotion words toward 6 plants colors, it was found that ‘bright’ was the emotion felt most strongly by the white, yellow, and orange groups, ‘calm’ and ‘comfortable’ by the green and blue groups, and ‘fancy’ by the red group. Conclusion: The effect of agro-healing programs can be increased by using mostly yellow plants when creating indoor healing gardens at the workplaces of fire officials in a high-risk occupational group, and using herbal plants and Lycopersicon esculentum in the gardens for agro-healing activities.