遊憩研究從最初的三個層級即活動、場域和動機，去開始瞭解人們從事什麼活動，在哪裡參與活動和為什麼參與這些遊憩活動。遊憩研究的第四個層級遊憩效益，是近來相關學者及從業者越來越重視的議題。遊憩效益對生活品質有相當的貢獻，更可以增加人們之生活滿意度。生活品質為常用於評估個人以及社會的幸福感。本研究旨在森林遊樂的環境下探討上述變數之間的因果關係。本研究針對2010-2011年到惠蓀國家森林遊樂區的遊客進行問卷調查，獲得有效問卷767份，有效問卷回收率90%，經由因素分析、信度分析及階層多元迴歸分析等統計方法來整理資料。針對遊憩效益問項因素分析結果發現可歸納成3個構面，分別命名為「健康構面」、「內省構面」及「學習構面」。其中以健康構面較其他2個構面對遊憩效益之解釋力較大。接著測試3個構面之信度。分析結果Cronbach's alpha 值顯示良好及可靠的信度。最後在階層多元迴歸分析方面，發現健康、內省及學習構面中，健康構面相較其他2個遊憩效益構面對生活滿意度的貢獻較大。更進一步分析發現，生活品質對生活滿意度之影響力較休閒效益大。本研究結論認為遊客在森林遊樂環境下，突顯對健康遊憩效益認知的需求；此外遊憩效益與生活品質可以有效的預測生活滿意度。本研究藉由結果討論及研究意含以提供森林遊樂經營管理與未來相關研究之參考。

Recreation research has evolved from three primary levels, including activities, settings and motivations to understand what, where and why people participating in recreation. The fourth level benefits are attracting more interests from recreation scholars and practitioners. Recreation benefits may contribute to enhance quality of life (QOL) and further life satisfaction for people. QOL is frequently used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. However, what kind of benefits would derive when people participated in recreation activity, and what factors would mostly contribute to people’s life satisfaction remains unknown. This study explored to identify the relationships among aforementioned factors in a context of forest recreation. In this study, seven hundred and sixty-seven visitors of Huisun National Forest Recreation Area in central Taiwan were involved for the survey with a 90% net response. First we analyzed the data with 17 beneficial measures. The results clearly showed three factors as we named health, introspection and learning benefits. Then we tested the reliability of measurement, which indicated that the measures demonstrated good reliability of instruments as shown from their Cronbach's alpha values. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that health benefits tended to be more important compared to introspection and learning benefits for people's life satisfaction. Furthermore, we found quality of life tended to contribute more on life satisfaction than those recreation benefits factors. We concluded that visitors' perceptions of health were salient regarding recreation benefits in forest recreation. Furthermore, recreation benefits and QOL predicted the life satisfaction effectively. The findings showed implications for recreation management, and also provided a platform for future studies.