Effects of Korean forest healing programs on stress in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Adults in the modern society suffer from stress, and prolonged stress brings about various diseases. Hence, national measures to prevent stress are needed, and countries seek approaches based on the nature. The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of forest healing programs on stress in the Korean adult population through a meta-analysis. Eleven pertinent studies were selected, and the effect size of each parameter, pooled effect size, and heterogeneity were examined. Further, the heterogeneity of effect sizes was analyzed through moderator analysis using categorical variables as the moderators. The results were as follows. First, the pooled effect size of stress was −0.95, which is considered a large effect size. Total variance I 2, which indicates the heterogeneity of effect size of stress, was quite large, at 77% (Q = 43.29, p < .0001). A meta-ANOVA analysis was performed for a moderator analysis with type of program, length of program, size of experimental group, subjects, sex, number of program sessions, and type of article, and there were no statistically significant differences between the parameters.