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Objectives: Women experience more stress in middle age than in other periods of their lives. Therefore, health management programs that enable middle-aged women to cope with and manage stress are needed. This study investigated the psychological effects of a meditation-focused forest therapy program among 53 middle-aged women living in urban areas in Korea., Methods: Participants were divided into 2 groups: one group underwent the program for 3 days in a forest, followed by 3 days in an urban environment, and the other group underwent the program for 3 days in the urban environment, followed by 3 days in the forest. The psychological effects of the forest therapy program were evaluated using the Profile of Mood States-Brief (POMS-B). Differences in mood state before and after the program conducted in the forest (experimental group) and in the urban environment (control group) were evaluated using the paired-samples t-test., Results: The program in the forest significantly reduced tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion among the domains of the POMS-B. The program in the urban area significantly reduced tension, but not depression, anger, fatigue, or confusion., Conclusions: Meditation-focused forest therapy programs are expected to contribute to promoting psychological health and enhancing the quality of life of middle-aged women.

Purpose: Children from multicultural families face physical, social, mental, and intellectual hurdles; however, relative interventions are lacking in South Korea (hereafter Korea) in this regard. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of regular Taekwondo (TKD) training on physical fitness, mood, sociability, and cognitive functions in these children., Methods: This study included 30 children from multicultural families in Korea who were randomly assigned to a TKD group ( n = 15) and control group ( n = 15). The children in TKD group underwent 16 weeks of TKD training once a week for 60 min. Each participant underwent a basic fitness test and sociability questionnaire before and after the intervention. Furthermore, we examined the changes in the mood and cognitive function by determining the profile of mood states (POMS), and Stroop color and word test, respectively., Results: Results of the Stork test of balance were significantly higher in the TKD group after intervention ( p < 0.05). In terms of sub-variables, POMS, tension, and depression scores were significantly lower ( p < 0.05) after the intervention, while the vigor score was significantly higher in the intervention group than those in the control group ( p < 0.05). Furthermore, sociability and 'being left out' score, a sub-variable of sociability, was significantly lower ( p < 0.05) after the intervention, while sociability score was significantly higher ( p < 0.05)., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that participation in regular TKD training can be effective for balanced improvements in variables of basic fitness and that it exerts a positive effect on the mood and development of sociability., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.