The influence of Self-Guided and Guided Forest Therapy Program on Students' Psychological Benefits

Background and objective: University students' mental health is threatened by various stressors. Forest therapy is considered an effective way to improve mental health. Many researchers have investigated the effectiveness of forest therapy programs operated by guides. Recently, although the concept of a self-guided forest therapy program has emerged without a guide, research is insufficient. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the influence of self-guided and guided forest therapy program on students' psychological benefits.Methods: We employed a randomized 3 × 3 crossover study. Twenty-three university students were randomly assigned into three groups to eliminate the order effect. Twenty-three university students were randomly exposed to three conditions: a self-guided forest therapy program, a guided forest-therapy program, and routine activities. All participants participated in all interventions once a week for three weeks, and each intervention was conducted over a one-week washout period to eliminate the carryover effect of the intervention. Measures included the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES), and the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS).Results: As a result, self-guided and guided forest-therapy programs significantly improved participants' negative emotions and natural connectedness compared to routine activities. As for self-esteem, only a guided forest therapy program was higher than daily routine activities.Conclusion: This study shows that not only guided forest therapy programs but also self-guided forest therapy programs have a positive effect on psychological health. Therefore, these findings suggest that running guided forest therapy programs and self-guided forest therapy programs as university in-campus programs will significantly help university students' mental health.