Effects of Forest Therapy on Cognitive Performance and Mental Health in Older Adults Health in Older Adults

NCT ID: NCT05359289

Last Updated: 2022-05-03

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: UNKNOWN
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 120 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-09-01
• Study Completion Date: 2024-07-31

Brief Summary

In Taiwan, aging is happening at a fast pace. The Taiwan Ministry of Interior officially announced that Taiwan will become an aged society in April 2018 and is expected to transition into a hyper-aged society within eight years. Critically, scholars recognize that optimizing cognitive activity and wellbeing influences quality of life in a late life which in turn is a key factor for successful aging. To alleviate the social and economic impact of aging, as well as impact on families, there is a need for studying anti-aging approaches. The World Health Organization suggests that the general public should have a healthy lifestyle which includes participating in activities for physical health, as well as cognitive and mental health involving maintaining social interactions. This present research is part of a broader integrated program in which the purpose is to promote and study the efficacy of forest therapy on physical health, and cognitive and mental health in older adults. The study site is located at the National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC) which includes wetlands, waterfronts, green-spaces and urban parks. The investigators will evaluate two types of interventions for participants, "forest therapy program" and "fitness program" for older adults. The study approach applies a between-subjects and pretest-posttest design. The investigators will collect participants' physical data, psychological responses, and cognitive performance in the course of both programs. By comparing these data before and after the intervention programs, the investigators seek to understand the both programs' effects on physical health, and cognitive and mental health.

Detailed Description

In Taiwan, aging is happening at a fast pace. The Taiwan Ministry of Interior officially announced that Taiwan will become an aged society in April 2018 and is expected to transition into a hyper-aged society within eight years. Critically, scholars recognize that optimizing cognitive activity and wellbeing influences quality of life in a late life which in turn is a key factor for successful aging. To alleviate the social and economic impact of aging, as well as impact on families, there is a need for studying anti-aging approaches. The World Health Organization suggests that the general public should have a healthy lifestyle which includes participating in activities for physical health, as well as cognitive and mental health involving maintaining social interactions. This present research is part of a broader integrated program in which the purpose is to promote and study the efficacy of forest therapy on physical health, and cognitive and mental health in older adults. The study site is located at the National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC) which includes wetlands, waterfronts, green-spaces and urban parks. The investigators will evaluate two types of interventions for participants, "forest therapy program" and "fitness program" for older adults. The study approach applies a between-subjects and pretest-posttest design. The investigators will collect participants' physical data, psychological responses, and cognitive performance in the course of both programs. By comparing these data before and after the intervention programs, the investigators seek to understand the both programs' effects on physical health, and cognitive and mental health. In addition, the investigators will elucidate the efficacy of the forest therapy program through measurement of the changes in physical, cognitive, and mental health performance and status indicators. The forest therapy and fitness programs at National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC), along with a robot programming training and tinkering activities that are part of the broader project, acts as a public education and service window towards addressing cognitive aging issues in Taiwan. It should be further noted that this will be a critical platform for obtaining ecological research data on a novel class of cognitive interventions for cognitive aging using psychological and brain imaging techniques to bridge critical neural mechanistic knowledge gaps.

Conditions

Forest Therapy for Cognition

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: TRIPLE

Study Groups

Forest therapy training

Participants will expect to have an improvement of cognitive functions via a serial nature-based therapy/intervention.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Forest therapy training

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants will experience nature-based interventions including forest hiking, horticultural therapy and green wellness activities for their mental health and physical conditions.

Senior fitness training

Participants will expect to have an improvement of cognitive functions through a structural senior fitness program.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Senior fitness training

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The fitness program includes physics fitness of stamina, coordination and aerobic exercise in 12 weeks. Participants will join the senior fitness program including physical fitness, aerobic exercise and exercise prescription during the 12 weeks program.

Board Games

Participants will play boards games under a schedule matching the Experimental and Active Comparator arms.

Group Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Board Games

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants will play board games with each other.

Interventions

Forest therapy training

Participants will experience nature-based interventions including forest hiking, horticultural therapy and green wellness activities for their mental health and physical conditions.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Senior fitness training

The fitness program includes physics fitness of stamina, coordination and aerobic exercise in 12 weeks. Participants will join the senior fitness program including physical fitness, aerobic exercise and exercise prescription during the 12 weeks program.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Board Games

Participants will play board games with each other.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Literate in Mandarin and Taiwanese.
• Willing to participate entirely in this research.
• Age > 65.

Exclusion Criteria

• Participated in cognitive-related training in the past two months.
• Diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment(MCI)
• Severe psychological or behavioral disorder that would seriously interfere with the progress of activity.
• Severe hearing Impairments or visual Impairment
• History of degenerative cognitive disorders, Organic Mental Disorders, Brain Dysfunction, Psychogenic neurosis.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Taiwan University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Taiwan Science Education Center

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Taiwan University Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Chia-Pin Yu, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

National Taiwan University

Locations

School of Forestry and Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University

Taipei, , Taiwan

Site Status: RECRUITING

National Taiwan Science Education Center

Taipei, , Taiwan

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Taiwan

Central Contacts

Chia-Pin Yu, Ph.D.

Role: CONTACT

simonyu@ntu.edu.tw

+886 2 33664618

Facility Contacts

Chia-Pin Yu, Ph.D.

Role: primary

simonyu@ntu.edu.tw

+886 2 33664618

Carmen Lui, B. Sc

Role: primary

luicarmen21@gmail.com

+886-2-6610-1234

Other Identifiers

202105HM079

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id