A Structured Forest Therapy Intervention Enhancing the Nature Connection, Mood States, and Satisfaction with Life of U.S. Veterans with PTSD: A Pilot Study

CHARACTERISTICS	VETERANS WITH PTSD
CHARACTERISTICS	n	%
Sex/Gender
Female	12	34
Male	23	66
Age in years, M (SD)	54.46	(13.81)
Race/ethnicity: Whites²	29	83
Military service years, M (SD)	7.59	(6.39)
Military service branches¹
Army	25	71
Navy	6	17
Air Force	2	6
Marine Corps	4	11
Health conditions²
Mental health impairments: PTSD	35	100
Other mental health impairments³	9	26
Physical health impairments⁴	13	37

[i] Note. N = 35. ¹Row totals for the participant groups are reported. ²Only the percentage of respondents who were in a subcategory is reported. ³Depression, anxiety, panic disorder, or ADHD. ⁴Back injury, arthritis, knee, or cancer.

Table 2

Results of Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test Comparing Nature Connection of Forest Therapy Participants.

VARIABLE	PRE-FOREST THERAPY			POST-FOREST THERAPY			WILCOXON SIGNED-RANK TEST
VARIABLE	M	SD	α	M	SD	α	Z	P
Nature connection	3.65	1.00	.97	4.29	.72	.97	–4.35	< .001

[i] Note. Measured using a five-point Likert scale format (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly agree).

Table 3

Results of Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test Comparing Mood States of Forest Therapy Participants.

VARIABLE	PRE-FOREST THERAPY			POST-FOREST THERAPY			WILCOXON SIGNED-RANK TEST
VARIABLE	M	SD	α	M	SD	α	Z	P
Tension-anxiety	2.13	.87	.88	1.14	.32	.84	–4.71	< .001
Depression	1.55	.65	.91	1.09	.29	.89	–3.75	< .001
Anger-hostility	1.56	.61	.83	1.06	.27	.85	–3.77	< .001
Vigor	2.51	.86	.93	3.04	1.17	.97	–2.69	.007
Fatigue-stress	2.35	1.01	.93	1.22	.44	.92	–4.75	< .001
Confusion	2.15	.78	.79	1.22	.40	.78	–4.72	< .001

[i] Note. Measured using a five-point Likert scale format (1 = Not at all, 2 = A little, 3 = Moderately, 4 = Quite a bit, 5 = Extremely).

Table 4

Results of Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test Comparing Satisfaction with Life of Forest Therapy Participants.

VARIABLE	PRE-FOREST THERAPY			POST-FOREST THERAPY			WILCOXON SIGNED-RANK TEST
VARIABLE	M	SD	α	M	SD	α	Z	P
Satisfaction with life	3.24	.89	.90	3.90	.73	.89	–4.07	< .001

[i] Note. Measured using a five-point Likert scale format (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly agree).

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v11i2.746 | Journal eISSN: 2470-4768

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Language: English

Page range: 99 - 108

Submitted on: May 26, 2025

Accepted on: Aug 31, 2025

Published on: Sep 19, 2025

Published by: Virginia Tech Publishing

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

forest therapy,

nature connection,

mood states,

satisfaction with life,

veterans

© 2025 Namyoon Gil, Junhyoung Kim, Jin Gun Kim, Cora Vogt, Tamberly Conway, Kate Bast, published by Virginia Tech Publishing
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 11 (2025): Issue 2