DOI: 10.17603/ds2-sffr-0489
title: An Exploratory Study of Perspectives from Forest Therapy Guides in a Wildfire Affected Community.
title: in Forest therapy as a trauma-informed approach to disaster recovery

description: This dataset is the product of 11 semi-structured interviews with members of a cohort of forest therapy guides who were part of a community recovery pilot program created after the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, an area of Northern California that is increasingly impacted by severe wildfires. The research explored if and how forest therapy can serve as a trauma-informed approach to disaster recovery. Interviews lasted between 46 and 81 minutes and took place between October 14, 2021 and January 4, 2022, via Zoom. Eleven of the fourteen forest therapy guides who were certified as part of the pilot program at the time were interviewed. Interview transcripts have not been made public because complete de-identification is not possible, due to the small study population sample and the personal nature of the conversations. This data publication includes the analytic matrix, which contains summarized, de-identified data from the individual interviews used for analysis. The key informant interview guide has also been shared, along with the documentation of University of Washington’s Human Subjects Division exempt determination.
description: Wildfires and other disasters resulting from climate-sensitive hazards have been associated with negative mental health outcomes. Previous research has found that nature-based therapy and interaction with nature are associated with a variety of physical and mental health benefits. This dataset is the product of 11 semi-structured interviews with members of a cohort of forest therapy guides who were part of a community recovery pilot program created after the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, an area of Northern California that is increasingly impacted by severe wildfires. The research explored if and how forest therapy can serve as a trauma-informed approach to disaster recovery. Interviews lasted between 46 and 81 minutes and took place between October 14, 2021 and January 4, 2022, via Zoom. Eleven of the fourteen forest therapy guides who were certified as part of the pilot program at the time were interviewed. Interview transcripts have not been made public because complete de-identification is not possible, due to the small study population sample and the personal nature of the conversations. This data publication includes the analytic matrix, which contains summarized, de-identified data from the individual interviews used for analysis. The key informant interview guide has also been shared, along with the documentation of University of Washington’s Human Subjects Division exempt determination. Researchers interested in accessing the restricted data can review the information in the Design Safe Restricted Data Use Protocol document. Funding for this research was provided by the University of Washington Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics and Environment (NIEHS Grant #: P30ES007033 to Nicole Errett) and a gift to the Chico State Ecological Reserve (Blake Ellis, Elli Goodsell).