Back to nature? Attention restoration theory and the restorative effects of nature contact in prison

How can plant-enriched natural environments benefit human health: a narrative review of relevant theories

Plant-enriched environments, the most common terrestrial landscapes, are usually coded as "green space" in urban studies. To understand how these natural environments can benefit human health, many theories have been developed, such as the well-known Attention Restoration Theory. Nowadays, more theories are emerging with regard to various and complex health dimensions. In this context, we searched online databases (from 2000 to 2022) and conducted a narrative review aiming to introduce relevant theories concerning psychological (e.g. Perceptual Fluency Account and Conditioned Restoration Theory), physiological (e.g. volatile organic compounds and environmental microbiomes), and behavioural (e.g. physical activity and social contact) perspectives. We also slightly mentioned some limitations and directions to be considered when using these theories. These results may offer general readers insights into the value of nature exposure and also help relevant researchers with study design and result interpretation.

The relationship between nature exposure and depression among Chinese prisoners: a moderated mediation model

Aim

This study examined the association between self-reported nature exposure and depression among Chinese prisoners, as well as the mediating and moderating effects of meaning in life and callous-unemotional (CU) traits, respectively.

Background

Prisoners are more likely to experience depression than any other mental illness. Exposure to nature has been proposed as a highly cost-effective method of treating their depressive symptoms. However, the mechanism underlying the link between nature exposure and depression among prisoners needs further investigation, as the findings may provide new insights into how to address depression in incarcerated populations.

Method

Data were collected through a survey conducted in four prisons in southern China from April to May 2022. The participants were 574 prisoners who anonymously completed four questionnaires about nature exposure, meaning in life, depression, and CU traits.

Results

The results show that: (1) meaning in life significantly mediates the association between nature exposure and depression, and (2) CU traits moderate the connection between nature exposure and meaning in life.

Conclusion

The current study uncovered that prisoners who contact more with the natural environment have a higher meaning in life and lower depression, and individuals with higher CU traits can benefit more from nature exposure.

Connecting to Nature through 360° Videos during COVID-19 Confinement: A Pilot Study of a Brief Psychological Intervention

Psychological interventions have been shown to be beneficial in mitigating stress related to COVID-19 confinement. According to theories of restorative environments, exposure to natural surroundings has positive effects on well-being and stress through its restorative qualities. With 360° video-based Virtual Reality (VR), people can be exposed to nature and so better manage the consequences associated with mobility restrictions during confinement. The main aim of this pilot study was to examine whether a 360° video-based VR intervention composed of five 13-minute sessions (once a day) has positive effects on affect, well-being, and stress. The sample was made up of 10 participants (4 men and 6 women; age : M = 46.5, SD = 11.7) who were confined at home (voluntarily or not) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were instructed to watch a 360° video each day (of a “beach” or “lake” environment) using their smartphone and VR glasses sent to them by mail. Participants responded with several self-reports before and/or after each session (emotions and sense of presence) and before and/or after the intervention (affect, well-being, perceived stress, perceived restorativeness of nature, and the usefulness and acceptability of the intervention). Results showed a tendency to improve positive (e.g., happiness) and negative (e.g., anxiousness) emotions and experience a high sense of presence after each session. Moreover, perceived restorative qualities of the environment and their cognitive and behavioral effects were high. A significant decrease in negative affect was found after the intervention. Usefulness and acceptability were also high. This is the first study to show that an affordable and accessible technology can be used to overcome the negative consequences of confinement and counteract its harmful psychological effects.

The Contribution to Stress Recovery and Attention Restoration Potential of Exposure to Urban Green Spaces in Low-Density Residential Areas

This study assessed the contributions of urban green spaces on mental health with joint consideration of people's physiological and psychological responses. The psychological and physiological responses of participants aged between 22 and 28, who visited green spaces in a low-density area of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China, were measured using Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) methods and biometric wearable sensing devices, respectively. Results showed that exposure to green space led to significant changes in PRS, electrodermal activity (EDA), facial electromyography (EMG), respiration sensor (RESP), and photoplethysmography (PPG), while there is no significant impact on skin temperature (SKT). Additionally, psychological and physiological responses were highly consistent and correlated (R < 0.8). The results also indicated that green spaces with high plant species richness, a water landscape, bumpy ground, cultural landscape, and without roadways presented a high performance on stress recovery and attention restoration. At the same time, the influence of openness was negligible in the low-density area. The study provides planners and landscape designers with specific guidance for implementing urban green spaces to improve mental health in low-density residential areas.

Association between indoor-outdoor green features and psychological health during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: A cross-sectional nationwide study

Exposure to public green spaces was shown to be associated with psychological health. Nonetheless, evidence is lacking on the role of different green features within and/or surrounding the home environment when public green spaces are inaccessible or not usable. The overarching goal of this study is to shed light on the associations between the presence of greenness within the home and in the surrounding environment and the detrimental effects of quarantine on psychological health during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Italy. A cross-sectional nationwide study involving an online survey was conducted of an Italian population-based sample of 3886 respondents on the association of indoor and outdoor green features (i.e., presence of plant pots, sunlight, green view and accessibility of private green space and natural outdoor environment) with self-reported increases in anxiety, anger, fear, confusion, moodiness, boredom, irritability, recurrent thoughts and/or dreams, poor concentration and sleep disturbance during the COVID-19 lockdown. Single-exposure regression models were performed to estimate associations between single green features and each psychological health outcome adjusted for relevant covariates. In the adjusted models, the presence of plant pots at home was associated with a lower self-reported increase in anxiety, anger, fear, irritability, and sleep disturbance. A greater amount of sunlight in the home was associated with a lower increase in anger, fear, confusion, moodiness, boredom, irritability, poor concentration, and sleep disturbance. A greater amount of green view and access to private green spaces were both associated with a lower increase in each of the psychological health outcomes except for green view and recurrent thought and/or dreams. Natural outdoor environment was associated with anxiety, fear, boredom, irritability, and sleep disturbance. Significant associations remained robust when adjusted for number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Insights on future investigations are provided.

Does greenery experienced indoors and outdoors provide an escape and support mental health during the COVID-19 quarantine?

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed people's ability to recreate in public green spaces, which is likely to exacerbate the psychological impacts of the pandemic. In the current study, we seek to understand whether greenery can support mental health even with insufficient outdoor exposure in times of physical isolation from the outdoor environment.

METHODS

Between 17 May and 10 June, 2020, we conducted an online survey among 323 students (21.99 ± 3.10 years; 31% male) in health-related programs from two universities in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Severities of depressive and anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale. We employed two self-reported measures of greenery experienced indoors (number of houseplants in the home and proportion of exterior greenery visible from inside the home) and two measures of greenery experienced outdoors (presence/absence of a domestic garden and availability of neighborhood greenery). Restorative quality of the home (the "being away" dimension of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale; PRS) and the neighborhood (the "being away" and "fascination" dimensions of the PRS), engagement with outdoor greenery (frequency of different types of interaction) and perceived social support were treated as mediators. Associations between greenery and mental health were tested using generalized linear regression and logistic regression. Structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques were used to test the theoretically-indicated relations among the variables.

RESULTS

Clinically-meaningful symptoms of moderate depression and anxiety were reported by approximately 33% and 20% of the students, respectively. The relative abundance of greenery visible from the home or in the neighborhood was associated with reduced depressive/anxiety symptoms and lower depression/anxiety rates. Having more houseplants or a garden was also associated with some of these markers of mental health. As hypothesized, the mental health-supportive effects of indoor greenery were largely explained by increased feelings of being away while at home. Neighborhood greenery contributed to neighborhood restorative quality, which in turn facilitated social support and more frequent engagement with greenery, and that led to better mental health.

CONCLUSIONS

Students who spent most of their time at home during the COVID-19 epidemic experienced better mental health when exposed to more greenery. Our findings support the idea that exposure to greenery may be a valuable resource during social isolation in the home. However, causal interpretation of these associations is not straightforward.

Practitioners' Experiences of the Influence of Bonsai Art on Health

Bonsai art refers to the cultivation of a miniature tree. This study was motivated by the hypothesis that bonsai art may also be an ecopsychological, therapeutic practice that can have meaningful healing qualities. An international online survey elicited the meaning of bonsai art for 255 skilled bonsai practitioners. Questionnaires and interviews were used to elicit the experiences of participants. The findings supported the hypothesis that, for skilled practitioners, bonsai art was associated with meaningful healing experiences. In particular, the evidence suggests that bonsai art facilitates improved ecological, spiritual and emotional awareness, as well as various healing dimensions, including aesthetic creativity, resilience, adaptability, and social, physical, and personal health. It is viewed as an intervention technique that requires few resources, is easy to apply, and has a minimal impact on any environmental setting. The conclusions drawn point to the ethically sound health promotion value of bonsai art in various settings, such as psychiatric hospitals, retirement homes, rehabilitation centres and prisons.

Can Viewing Nature Through Windows Improve Isolated Living? A Pathway Analysis on Chinese Male Prisoners During the COVID-19 Epidemic

Nature exposure is known to promote life satisfaction and well-being, and indirect exposure through windows is likely to benefit isolated populations. However, whether such type of exposure can benefit prisoners, the extremely isolated population, is unknown. In the current study, we investigated 326 male prisoners from three prisons in southwest China. Psychological variables including depression, anxiety, loneliness, distress tolerance, life satisfaction, and well-being were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), short-form UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6), Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5), respectively. Structural equation modeling was employed to identify the pathways from the visibility of nature through windows to prisoners' life satisfaction and well-being. Our results demonstrated that visibility of nature promoted the frequency and duration of viewing nature through windows. The frequency directly affected well-being, but the duration did not effectively affect any measured variables. The visibility of nature enhanced life satisfaction mainly via direct effects but enhanced well-being mainly via indirect effects. Regarding the indirect pathways, the visibility of nature increased distress tolerance and thus reduced loneliness and mental health problems. The reduced mental health problem, in turn, promoted life satisfaction and well-being. Our findings suggest that nature exposure through windows is effective in enhancing prisoners' life satisfaction and well-being. The policymaker may need to consider nature-based solutions such as indirect nature exposure in prions to benefit isolated populations.

An Actual Natural Setting Improves Mood Better Than Its Virtual Counterpart: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Data

Accumulating evidence indicates that simulated natural settings can engage mechanisms that promote health. Simulations offer alternatives to actual natural settings for populations unable to travel outdoors safely; however, few studies have contrasted the effects of simulations of natural settings to their actual outdoor counterparts. We compared the impacts of simulated and actual natural settings on positive and negative affect (mood) levels using a pooled sample of participants enrolled in extant experimental studies. Relevant articles were identified from a review of research published/in press by March 2020 and updated during the peer review of the current study. Of 16 articles identified, 6 met the inclusion criteria and administered a single cross-cutting, standardized instrument [the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)] before and after exposure. Random effects meta-analysis of pooled effects showed that positive affect increased in the actual settings but not in their simulated counterparts (Hedge's g = 0.87; 95% CI, 0.54, 1.20). We observed little difference in effects on negative affect change scores (g = −0.28; 95% CI, −0.62, 0.06), with studies generally showing reductions in negative affect in both settings. Further research with additional populations, settings, antecedent conditions, and durations would provide a more robust understanding of differences in effects between these two ways to enhance mood by viewing nature.