Supporting Wellness, Resilience, and Community With Forest Therapy

Area of Science:

• Medical research
• Physician wellbeing
• Environmental psychology

Background:

• Physician burnout is a widespread issue impacting healthcare professionals.
• Systemic issues contribute to burnout, but physician wellbeing practices and community support can mitigate exhaustion and isolation.
• Forest therapy (FT), inspired by shinrin-yoku, is a group nature immersion practice shown to improve wellbeing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To offer guided forest therapy experiences to frontline faculty physicians.
• To evaluate the potential impact of forest therapy on physician burnout, resilience, and sense of community.
• To assess the feasibility and acceptability of forest therapy as a wellbeing intervention for physicians.

Main Methods:

• Faculty physicians were recruited for a free, guided forest therapy experience.
• Pre- and post-intervention surveys were administered to measure burnout and resilience.
• Qualitative feedback was collected to evaluate the community aspect and overall value of the experience.

Main Results:

• At baseline, 85% of physicians reported experiencing burnout monthly, with 46% experiencing it multiple times a month.
• Post-intervention, 100% found the experience valuable, 96% desired more frequent sessions, and 70% believed FT could help with burnout.
• Participants reported feeling relaxed, peaceful, and calm post-FT, with 94% indicating it could help manage stress.

Conclusions:

• Forest therapy is a feasible and acceptable intervention for physician wellbeing.
• Physicians expressed willingness to recommend FT and found value in the community aspect.
• FT holds potential for integration into leadership, teambuilding, and post-adverse event support programs.