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Eichholtzer AC, Driscoll DA, Patrick R, Galletta L, Lawson J. The co-benefits of biodiversity citizen science for well-being and nature relatedness. Appl Psychol Health Well Being 2024; 16:515-536. [PMID: 37876142 DOI: 10.1111/aphw.12502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
Human well-being is dependent on the health of our planet. Biodiversity-related citizen science supports conservation research, and there is increasing interest in its potential as a health co-benefits intervention. This randomized controlled study investigates the health co-benefits of biodiversity citizen science participation. Seventy participants were randomly assigned to a citizen science project or control group for an 8-month period. Both groups completed pre- and post-intervention surveys, evaluating nature relatedness, self-efficacy related to biodiversity loss, subjective well-being, and climate change anxiety. A subset (N = 13) of participants engaged in the citizen science project also took part in focus group discussions. The intervention group reported a significant increase in nature relatedness and self-efficacy to help address issues of biodiversity loss. Although no significant changes were observed for other well-being or anxiety scales, most participants reported positive outcomes related to mental or physical well-being in focus groups. There were stronger positive effects for participants without previous environmental volunteering experience. These results suggest that citizen science participation has the potential to contribute to Planetary Health goals, with sustained co-benefits for well-being and nature relatedness. Future interventions evaluating co-benefits should consider previous environmental volunteering experience and focus on participants with little experience to maximize health outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne C Eichholtzer
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
| | - Don A Driscoll
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
| | - Rebecca Patrick
- School of Population and Global Health, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Lorenzo Galletta
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
| | - Justin Lawson
- School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
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Jafarzadeh Esfahani M, Sikder N, Ter Horst R, Daraie AH, Appel K, Weber FD, Bevelander KE, Dresler M. Citizen neuroscience: Wearable technology and open software to study the human brain in its natural habitat. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:948-965. [PMID: 38328991 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2023] [Revised: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
Citizen science allows the public to participate in various stages of scientific research, including study design, data acquisition, and data analysis. Citizen science has a long history in several fields of the natural sciences, and with recent developments in wearable technology, neuroscience has also become more accessible to citizen scientists. This development was largely driven by the influx of minimal sensing systems in the consumer market, allowing more do-it-yourself (DIY) and quantified-self (QS) investigations of the human brain. While most subfields of neuroscience require sophisticated monitoring devices and laboratories, the study of sleep characteristics can be performed at home with relevant noninvasive consumer devices. The strong influence of sleep quality on waking life and the accessibility of devices to measure sleep are two primary reasons citizen scientists have widely embraced sleep research. Their involvement has evolved from solely contributing to data collection to engaging in more collaborative or autonomous approaches, such as instigating ideas, formulating research inquiries, designing research protocols and methodology, acting upon their findings, and disseminating results. In this article, we introduce the emerging field of citizen neuroscience, illustrating examples of such projects in sleep research. We then provide overviews of the wearable technologies for tracking human neurophysiology and various open-source software used to analyse them. Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges in citizen neuroscience projects and suggest how to improve the study of the human brain outside the laboratory.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Niloy Sikder
- Donders Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognition, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Faculty of Technology and Bionics, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, Kleve, Germany
| | - Rob Ter Horst
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Amir Hossein Daraie
- Donders Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognition, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | | | - Frederik D Weber
- Donders Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognition, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Sleep and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Kirsten E Bevelander
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Primary and Community Care, Radboud University and Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Martin Dresler
- Donders Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognition, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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