Health research - Trakt Forest Hotel

Health research

Does the forest have any significance for my well-being and my health?

Positive health benefits on the immune system, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory system, depression and anxiety and stress have been described with staying in the forest. However, 200 years ago 90 percent of the people in Sweden lived in the countryside and today it is almost the opposite. Many of today’s city dwellers have lost contact with the forest, and thus the forest’s opportunities are missing out. We can’t have it like that!

Join us and share your experiences in the forest so that we can initiate and contribute to improvements and development in activities where children and adults stay, such as daycare, leisure, school and care for the elderly. Your experiences can help us develop health-promoting efforts and make people in our surroundings aware of the value of the forest. Maybe forest stays can be prescribed?

 

Participate in various studies and receive feedback immediately afterwards

As a visitor, you can participate in various ways. The first study is about stress measurement and then you spend three days in nature. It is a measurement and health check before, during and after the stay that is carried out with a portable EKG that you wear for 3 days before the stay and 3 days during the stay and where you can follow the progress yourself via an app. In order to participate in this study, you need to be on site for 3 days, where each day consists of at least 7 hours of waking time. In the other studies, you can participate after staying one night, and here can also children over the age of four participate. Then it is more about soft values where you explore the experience of your night in the forest. This is done through an oral interview, a questionnaire or by taking pictures during the time in the forest. Afterwards, you will receive direct feedback and the finished result can be sent by e-mail, if you so wish.

 

Register for the various studies below:

You can choose to participate in one study or several.

HEALTH CHECK (FOR PEOPLE 18 YEARS OF AGE AND ABOVE)

Participating in the health control study means that 3 days before your stay in the forest accommodation and 3 days during your stay in the forest accommodation you wear an ECG, which looks like a band and which registers the heart’s rythm and measures the body’s stress. From the heart’s signals, the stress level is analyzed via heart rate variability (HRV), sleep quality and physical activity. The measurement is supplemented with a subjective symptom assessment developed by the Karolinska Institutet (KEDS). You get your own result via the company Linkura in an app that you installed. A prerequisite for being able to participate in this study is that you wear the ECG for at least 7 hours awaking time for 3 days. You wear the ECG all the time, even when you sleep, and you should take the ECG off just before you go home. You get the ECG delivered to your home the first time, you then take this ECG with you to the forest accommodation and leave it at their reception. At the accommodation, you will receive a new ECG to wear during your time at the accommodation. You leave this ECG at the reception at the accommodation before departure. See more information and the request to participate in the study in the information sheet here:

 

Information Adults from 18 years. Stressmeasure – health check

Link to registration Linkura

Information from Linneuniversitetet to the study participant. Stressmeasuring. Health check

 

 

THE QUESTIONNAIRE STUDY (FOR PEOPLE OVER 4 YEARS OLD)

 

Participating in the questionnaire study means that you will fill in a questionnaire about the importance of the forest to you when you arrive at the forest accommodation and a questionnaire just before you leave the accommodation. You will find QR codes for the questionnaires on a poster when you arrive at the accommodation.The survey takes about 3-5 minutes to answer. You will receive feedback on your answers after each time you answer and send the answers. Submitted answer means that you consented to participating.

You who are the parent of children between 4 and 14 years old need to approve that your child is included in the study, if there are two parents then both must approve. NOTE Important! A written consent for your child’s participation is available at the reception, so ask for it there and leave the signed consent in the locked box marked with the study and located at reception. Only the responsible researcher can then see that your child has participated in the study. However, we cannot link it to any answer. Therefore, the actual answer your child gives cannot be linked to any person. Read the information about the study together with your child, so you all understand what the child is participating in. When necessary, you are also welcome to help your child to fill in the questionnaire. Submitted answer means that you all consented to the child participating. See more information and the request to participate in the study in the information sheet here:

 

Information children 4 – 11 years. Questionnaire study
Information children 12-14 years. Questionnaire study
Information children 15-18 years. Questionnaire study
Information adults from 18 years. Questionnaire study
Information from Linneuniversitetet to the study participant. Questionnaire study

 

THE INTERVIEW STUDY (FOR PEOPLE OVER 4 YEARS OLD)

Participating in the interview study means that you and a researcher from the Linnaeus University, who is responsible for the study, will talk about the importance of the forest and forest living for you and what it is in the forest that is important to you. The interview takes about 30-60 minutes. See more information and the request to participate in the study in the information sheet here:

 

Information children 4 – 11 years. Interviewstudy
Information children 12-14 years. Interviewstudy
Information children 15-18 years. Interviewstudy
Information adult from 18 years. Interviewstudy
Information from Linneuniversitetet to the study participant. Interviewstudy

 

Send an email to susanne.knutsson@lnu.se, write that you wish to participate in the study and Susanne will contact you via email and arrange a time and place for an interview.

 

THE PHOTO STUDY (FOR PEOPLE OVER 4 YEARS OLD)

Participating in the photo study means that you will take 3 photos of things in the forest that are important to you, that you think make you feel good and 3 photos of things that don’t make you feel good/ that makes you feel bad. See more information and the request to participate in the study in the information sheet here:

 

Information children 4 – 11 years. Photostudy
Information children 12-14 years. Photostudy
Information children 15-18 years. Photostudy
Information adults from 18 years. Photostudy
Information from Linneuniversitetet to the study participant .Photostudy

 

When you have taken the photos, send them by email to Susanne Knutsson susanne.knutsson@lnu.se, who is responsible for the study. Write in the email if you are a man or a woman, a girl or a boy and your age. When you submit your photos, it means that you have agreed to participate in the study.

You who are the parent of children between 4 and 14 years old need to approve that your child is included in the study, if there are two parents then both must approve. NOTE Important! A written consent for your child’s participation is available at reception, so ask for it there and leave the signed consent in the locked box marked with the study and located at the reception. Only the responsible researcher can then see that your child has participated in the study. Read the information about the study together with your child, so you all understand what the child is participating in. When you submit your child´s photos, it means that you have agreed that the child participate in the study.

 

Take the chance to be able to influence and make a difference, it only takes a little of your time!

 

This is a collaboration between Trakt Forest Hotel and Linnaeus University (LNU) in the research project “The forest and its health-promoting values and effects”.

 

Responsible for the project:
Susanne Knutsson
Fil. Dr, Docent, Specialist Nurse Intensive Care
Inst. for health and care sciences, Linnéuniversitetet, 351 95, Växjö
Tel: 070-206 74 81, e-mail: susanne.knutsson@lnu.se