As problems relating to childrenâ??s health increase, forest therapy has been proposed\nas an alternative. This study examined the effects of a combined health promotion program,\nusing urban forests and nursing student mentors, on the perceived and psychosocial health of\nupper-grade elementary students. The quasi-experimental study ran from June to August 2017,\nwith 52 upper-grade elementary students from five community after-school centers. With a purposive\nsampling, they were assigned to either an experimental group (n = 24), who received a 10-session\nhealth promotion program, or to a control group (n = 28). Seven undergraduate nursing students\nparticipated as mentors. Running over 10 weeks, each weekly session consisted of 30 min of\nhealth education and 60 min of urban forest activities. Data were analyzed by independent t-test,\nMann-Whitney U-test, paired t-test, or Wilcoxon signed rank test. General characteristics and\noutcome variables of both groups were homogeneous. The experimental group showed significant\nimprovement in self-esteem (p = 0.030) and a significant decrease in depressive symptoms (p = 0.020)\nafter the intervention, compared to the control group. These results suggest that forest healing\nprograms may contribute to the spread of health promotion programs that make use of nature.
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