Effects of a Forest Therapy Program on Reducing PTSD and Depression and Improving Mood States in Fire Officers

Background and objective: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of forest therapy programs on reducing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and improving mood states in fire officers. Methods: To determine PTSD, depression, and mood states before and after the forest therapy program, the survey results of 185 fire officers were analyzed. Frequency analysis was conducted to identify the demographic characteristics of the participants, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test to analyze the differences among group. Results: As a result of a comparative analysis of PTSD before and after the program, there was a significant decrease in PTSD from 10.65 ± 12.00 to 5.64 ± 8.29 after the program. Depression also showed a statistically significant difference from 3.21 ± 4.00 to 2.21 ± 3.47 after the program. As a result of comparatively analyzing mood states before and after the program, there was an increase in positive factors and a decrease in negative factors. Total mood disturbance (TMD) also showed a statistically significant decrease from 5.78 ± 17.37 to –7.38 ± 10.35 after the program. Conclusion: This study has significance in verifying that forest therapy programs can bring psychological changes to fire officers, and these results can be used as a basis for stress management and relief of fire officers.