Using 360-degree virtual reality to explore physiological benefits of forest environments for forestry workers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Science at Massey University, (Distance), New Zealand

Abstract

Reducing stress in our daily lives is important for long-term health and well-being. The relaxation and stress reduction benefits of experiencing natural environments such as forests are well-established. Research has also found that the virtual experience of nature through virtual reality technology can have similar benefits to real natural environments. However, few studies have explored the stress reduction benefits of forests in working populations outside of office workers, and no research was found that has examined forestry workers. This group engages directly with forest environments regularly and the health benefits of this may be beneficial to the sector where attracting workers can be challenging. Using virtual reality, this study explored physiological stress of forestry and office workers exposed to 360-degree videos of actual forest environments. The forestry group (n=15) and the office group (n=15) participated in a within-subject, virtual reality experiment which explored three different types of forest: A native forest, a production forest and a harvested forest site. Heart rate, heart rate variability, galvanic skin response and perceived relaxation were measured, and a short semi-structured interview conducted. The quantitative data was statistically analysed using R Studio and a thematic analysis of the qualitative data was facilitated by NVivo. There were clear differences in perceived relaxation and interview responses between forestry and office workers in the psychological results. Some physiological measures indicated that forestry participants had higher parasympathetic nervous system activity than office workers, suggesting forestry workers were more relaxed in the forest environments. The native forest was perceived overall to be the most relaxing compared to the production and harvested forest scenes but there were no physiological differences in stress reduction. These findings show some support for forests providing stress reduction benefits for forestry workers compared to office workers. This could have positive implications for recruiting workers into the sector. Given the complexity that surrounds human physiology and nature interactions in a forestry work context, further research is suggested to explore larger samples, more diverse workers and forests, addition of olfactory stimulants and modified research designs.