노인의 숲길 걷기 효과: 체계적 문헌 고찰과 메타분석

초록

This study analyzed the current status of research on forest walking effects on older adults and examined the level of evidence and effect sizes. We searched domestic academic databases using key search terms related to forest walking and selected ten articles based on the PICO methodology. To identify the study characteristics, we analyzed the authors, publication year, participant characteristics (sex, disease status, and sample size), intervention details (type of forest walking, duration, period, frequency, and specification of exercise intensity), outcome measures, major findings, and study design. The participants were mostly healthy older women, with sample sizes ranging from 7 to 46. The interventions involved forest walking alone or in combination with resistance training, typically performed three times per week for 30–60 min per session over 8–12 weeks at the prescribed exercise intensities. Outcome measures included various functional, psychological and physiological indicators. The study designs comprised randomized controlled trials (RCTs), non-randomized controlled trials, pre-post comparative studies, and single-group pre-post studies. We assessed the risk of bias in four RCTs that were regarded as having higher-level evidence. Overall, the risk of bias was high, indicating the need for methodological improvement. The meta-analysis revealed that compared with the control groups, forest walking significantly improved lower-body strength, flexibility, agility, and balance, confirming its effectiveness in enhancing physical function. However, the small number of studies and high risk of bias limited results interpretation. In particular, key environmental factors such as slope and walking distance have not been consistently reported, further limiting the validity of effect interpretation. We conclude that future research should include larger sample sizes and more rigorous study designs that systematically incorporate environmental characteristics.

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