Thermal spring bath was promoted by Government since 1999. Because geography is unique in Taiwan, the richness of thermal springs is rare around the world. Therapy and leisure are parts of multiple functions for thermal springs; thermal springs become the most potentially representative tourism resources in Taiwan. Short Form-36 (SF-36) is a form recognized by World Health Organization to access people?s health. To review the past thermal spring?s research, most of them were to introduce thermal spring to help special patients; there were few researches to use SF-36 as a tool to study thermal spring. The purpose of this research was to study the relationships between thermal spring bath participant?s self-reported health and specialization. Three hundred eighty people were selected in this cross-sectional, descriptive study by using a structured questionnaire. Three hundred thirty-five valid data were used to analyze as the results, the valid corresponding rate was 88.1%. The surveys were conducted during the period of February 2 to March 15 2008. The results of this study were the followings: There were significant difference between thermal spring bath participant?s specialization and their vitality (VT), mental health (MH), general health (GH) and reported health transition (HT). In addition, those four indices were increasing with the increasing of thermal spring bath participant?s specialization. Basic on the research, thermal spring activities have positive health effects. At present, the lack of public thermal spring bath and higher price to take thermal spring bath are the constraints for people to continuously take thermal spring bath. We would like to suggest Government to increase the facilities of public thermal spring bath to reduce the cost for participants to take thermal spring bath. Therefore, the thermal spring industry can basic on participant motives, especial health benefits, and participant constraints to promote thermal spring bath markets.
