Priority Analysis of Educational Needs of Forest Healing Instructors Related to Programs for Cancer Survivors: Using Borich Needs Assessment and the Locus for Focus Model

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the priority of educational needs to strengthen the competency of forest healing instructors who operate forest healing programs for cancer survivors. A survey was conducted with 91 forest healing instructors using a questionnaire. The average perceived importance of the forest healing program for cancer survivors of forest healing instructors was higher compared to the average knowledge of the forest healing instructors. The Borich needs assessment model showed the highest educational need in the domains of “Cancer survivors’ overview” and “Health status screening method”. In addition, deriving the priority of educational needs using the Borich needs assessment model and the focus trajectory model revealed that the highest priority was for “Health status screening method” and “Effective communication with cancer survivors”. These results can be used as basic data for developing a forest healing instructors training program for cancer survivors that reflects the instructors’ needs and the characteristics of cancer survivors.

Experiences of Forest Healing Instructors Who Met Cancer Patients in Forest Healing Programs: FGI Research

“…After being discharged from hospitals, cancer survivors seek healthy lifestyle methods to prevent recurrence and various life problems [25]. Among them, forest activities provide cancer survivors with physiologically and psychologically positive recovery experiences, and the demand for urban forest programs is high [14,26]. Therefore, cancer patients and survivors become interested in and participate in forest healing programs, and the participants of this study experienced unexpected encounters with cancer patients.…”

“…In addition, one participant stated that the bright and lively cancer patient he encountered was different to the image he held of a typical cancer patient. This was thought to be because forest healing instructors tend to have a negative image of cancer patients that includes physical weakness and death [26]. With the latest medical advances and the development of active adjuvant therapy, it has become increasingly important to regard cancer as a chronic disease and manage a healthy lifestyle [27].…”

“…As cancer patients show different side effects of treatment depending on the type of cancer, when providing a program such as an exercise, the method of application and considerations differ depending on the characteristics of the cancer survivor [26]. Therefore, separate locations and application methods that consider a patient's health condition are required.…”

“…Therefore, separate locations and application methods that consider a patient's health condition are required. In addition, smooth communication with medical staff is an important part of the treatment for cancer patients, and effective communication plays an important role in the emotional health of cancer survivors [26,32]. However, forest healing instructors may have a negative image of cancer patients and have found it difficult to communicate with them [26].…”

Needs assessment of police pre-deployment training for dispatch experts in international development cooperation of policing

“…This study determined the needs ranking by evaluating the t-value, Borich, and the Locus for Focus Model analysis. Following the Borich needs assessment, the highest priority was determined by examining the redundancy of items in the first quadrant (HH quadrant) of the Locus for Focus Model (Park and Song, 2022).…”