{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T23:04:45Z","timestamp":1792796685759,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,9]],"date-time":"2026-04-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775692800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The escalating mental health crisis among graduate students has become a pressing public health concern, necessitating the development of effective, accessible, and low-cost stress management strategies. While exposure to green spaces is known to benefit psychological well-being, the differential efficacy of structured versus unstructured forest activities remains understudied.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This investigation evaluated the emotion regulation benefits of short-term forest healing experiences among graduate students in Beijing. The study compared the effects of forest versus urban environments and compared therapist-guided versus unguided modalities.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Results indicated that: (1) Brief outdoor activities significantly reduced negative emotions (tension, depression, anger, fatigue, confusion) across all groups; (2) Compared with the urban environment, the forest environment demonstrated greater efficacy in regulating emotions, supported by superior environmental quality (e.g., higher negative air ions, lower noise) ; and (3) Notably, the presence of a forest therapist did not yield statistically superior benefits compared to unguided forest exposure.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings suggest that self-guided forest bathing serves as a sufficient, cost-effective, and easily accessible intervention for daily stress reduction. Consequently, promoting unguided nature exposure offers a scalable public health solution to mitigate the mental health burden in high-stress academic populations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1759571","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,9]],"date-time":"2026-04-09T04:11:42Z","timestamp":1775707902000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Comparing guided and unguided forest bathing for graduate student stress management: a pilot study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Zhiyong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Forestry Policy and Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yue","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Forestry Policy and Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyu","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Forestry Policy and Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bing","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Forestry Policy and Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"537","DOI":"10.32479\/ijeep.11119","article-title":"Carbon emissions, economic growth, forest, agricultural land and air pollution in Indonesia.","volume":"11","author":"Azwardi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. 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