An Awareness and Demand Survey on Agro-Healing Among Adults with Symptoms of Stress

Abstract

Background and objective: This study conducted an awareness and demand survey on agro-healing for the purpose of preparing basic data for developing agro-healing programs and improving service quality to heal the mental health of people with symptoms of stress.Methods: In order to conduct this study, a questionnaire consisting of 23 items was developed to investigate the awareness and demand for agro-healing. The survey was conducted online on adults in their 20s and 30s showing symptoms of stress. A total of 225 copies of the questionnaire were collected, and 183 copies were finally used for analysis.Results: The survey results showed that 66.1% of the respondents were 'not aware at all' and 33.9% were 'aware' of agro-healing. Regarding the experience of participating in agro-healing, 68.3% of the respondents said they had 'no experience' and 31.7% said they had 'experience'. Among the respondents with experience, the most common purpose of participation was 'experience' (31.0%), followed by 'education' (27.6%), 'leisure' (20.7%), 'healing' (10.3%), and 'recreation' (5.1%). The intent to participate in agro-healing was rated on a 5-point Likert scale, and 'forest healing' scored 4.0 points, 'horticultural therapy' 3.8 points, 'animal-assisted therapy' 3.8 points, and 'agricultural work healing' 3.2 points. The points to be improved when using the agro-healing service are 'lack of various promotional contents' (73.8%), 'lack of education and training programs' (13.7%), 'lack of partnership with the government' (7.1%), and 'lack of consideration for the underprivileged' (5.5%). 74.3% of the respondents said it is necessary to implement and systemize agro-healing policies, 21.3% said it was 'moderate', and 4.3% said it was 'unnecessary', indicating that there was high awareness of the need to implement agro-healing service policies.Conclusion: This study is expected to provide basic data for effective agro-healing services to treat the mental health of people with stress symptoms and be used as a reference material for making policy suggestions to establish an organized agro-healing system.

Development and Effectiveness of an Agro-Healing Program Utilizing Rural Resources to Relieve Stress in Adults

“…Loue [33] defined a care farm as a space for user recovery via services provided by experts and rural resources. Adults in their 20s and 30s with symptoms of stress were found to wish for forest healing, horticultural therapy, animal-assisted therapy, and agro-healing, all of which are possible through therapeutic agricultural activities [34].…”