Analyzing men and women separately, we examined the associations between six key elements of the psychosocial work environment of pink-collar workers (n = 7633) and the risk of depression, using logistic regression analysis with data from the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) conducted in 2017. We assessed the risk of depression according to the presence of emotional display rules (EDR), health and safety information (HSI), and emotional labor. In males, the risk of depression increased when there were no EDR and they had to interact with angry customers (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.14–3.30). For women, the risk of depression increased if they had to interact with angry customers and EDR were present (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.00–3.00), and if they did not receive HSI but had to interact with angry customers (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.02–2.71), or hid their emotions and did not receive HSI (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.50–2.40). The risk of depression increased more in the presence of EDR among women who hid their emotions (OR 1.80, 95% CI, 1.40–2.31) compared to women who did not hide their emotions and in the absence of EDR. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the effects of gender-specific factors on the risk of depression and revise current guidelines accordingly.

ObjectivesAlthough the global COVID-19 pandemic has increased interest in research involving high-risk smokers, studies examining changed smoking behaviours, cessation intentions and associated psychological states among smokers are still scarce. This study aimed to systematically review the literature related to this subject.DesignA systematic review of published articles on cigarettes and COVID-19-related topicsData sourcesOur search was conducted in January 2021. We used the keywords COVID-19, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and psychological factors in PubMed and ScienceDirect and found papers published between January and December 2020.Data selectionWe included articles in full text, written in English, and that surveyed adults. The topics included smoking behaviour, smoking cessation, psychological state of smokers and COVID-19-related topics.Data extraction and synthesisPapers of low quality, based on quality assessment, were excluded. Thirteen papers were related to smoking behaviour, nine papers were related to smoking cessation and four papers were related to psychological states of smokers.ResultsOwing to the COVID-19 lockdown, cigarette users were habituated to purchasing large quantities of cigarettes in advance. Additionally, cigarette-only users increased their attempts and willingness to quit smoking, compared with e-cigarette-only users.ConclusionsOwing to the COVID-19 outbreak, the intention to quit smoking was different among smokers, according to cigarette type (cigarette-only users, e-cigarette-only users and dual users). With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, policies and campaigns to increase smoking cessation intentions and attempts to quit smoking among smokers at high risk of COVID-19 should be implemented. Additionally, e-cigarette-only users with poor health-seeking behaviour require interventions to increase the intention to quit smoking.

In recent decades, forests have expanded from natural resources for conservation and production to health-promoting resources. With the growing body of evidence supporting the therapeutic effects of forests, the number of investigations on the relationship between forest characteristics and therapeutic effects have increased. However, quantitative synthesis of primary studies has rarely been conducted due to a limited number of health studies including forest description and high heterogeneity of forest variables. In this study, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between the forest structure and the therapeutic effect. We systematically searched the studies examining the therapeutic effects of forests with different stand density and canopy density and synthesized the results. As a result of subgroup analysis, we found that stand density modifies the therapeutic effects. Emotional and cognitive restoration showed greatest improvement in low-density forests with a stand density of less than 500/ha and the therapeutic effects diminish as the stand density increases. The impact of canopy density was not found due to a lack of studies reporting canopy density. Although some limitations remain, the findings in this study have great significance in providing the basis for establishing management strategies of forests for therapeutic use.

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of human society, including education, culture, and the economy, and has also introduced changes in people’s health behaviors such as drinking alcohol, nutrition intake, and practicing healthy living. This study conducted qualitative research in the Korean context to examine the changes in the smoking behavior of smokers and secondhand smoke exposure of non-smokers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Focus group interviews were conducted with 36 Korean participants (18 men and 18 women). The groups were composed of cigarette smokers, e-cigarette users, heated tobacco product users, and non-smokers. Results During the pandemic, it was found that there was an increase in the frequency of use, irrespective of the tobacco product, in users who refrained from social interaction and worked or studied from home. Users who continued to be socially active increased the amount used with each usage. Smokers showed a tendency to avoid smoking rooms and to smoke alone in places unoccupied by people. In addition, non-smokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke did not decrease, but since non-smokers used masks, they reported more relief from the risk of exposure to secondhand smoke than before. Conclusions Despite smokers being a high-risk group for COVID-19, the risk did not result in smoking cessation among smokers. Therefore, policies and educational campaigns to raise awareness about the dangers of smoking and to encourage smoking cessation are needed in the future.