Effect of a Park-Based Physical Activity Intervention on Psychological Wellbeing at the Time of COVID-19

Benefits of nature-based intervention in combating the impact of urbanization on psychopathology in industrialized societies

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The assumption has been made that urbanization adversely affects mental health, primarily attributed to the lack of access to nature. Our objective is to examine whether nature-based interventions can reduce psychopathology within an urban setting.

RECENT FINDINGS

Nature-based interventions are generally categorized as either physical or virtual. Physical interventions engage participants in various activities like passive exposure, outdoor swimming, or physical activities in natural environments. On the other hand, virtual interventions expose participants to visual, auditory, or even olfactory stimuli to simulate natural environments. While most interventions achieved some degree of success in enhancing overall well being, not all demonstrated a significant reduction in depression and anxiety.

SUMMARY

The review identified a shortage of well designed and well implemented outdoor or virtual nature-based interventions. Longitudinal designs in physical nature-based interventions provided the strongest evidence for reducing anxiety and depression. Multisensory virtual nature-based interventions also show significant potential for alleviating anxiety and depression in urban dwellers. Conversely, brief nature-based interventions yielded inconsistent results in improving mental health. Urgent investment in high-quality interventions and research in this domain is imperative to inform policy and enhance overall mental health in urban settings.

Associations Between Daily Activities, Stress, and Sleep Among Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced lifestyle changes that appeared to impact adults' engagement in health-promoting activities. Researchers observed increased stress, sleep problems, and sedentary activity, and decreased physical activity during the pandemic. This secondary analysis examined the frequency that adults engaged in different daily activities and links between activity types, stress, and sleep during the pandemic. Fifty-three adults completed a single online survey in January 2021 where they reported demographics, COVID-19 pandemic experiences, daily activities, stress, and sleep. Sum scores were calculated to indicate total frequency of different activity types. Regressions were used to examine whether the frequency of different activity types predicted sleep duration and stress. There was a trend-level relationship between the frequency of activities done outdoors and stress scores, such that doing outdoor activities more often was linked with less stress (P = .098). Higher income also tended to be linked with more stress (P = .053), as did younger age (P = .028). When restricting the outdoor activity variable to physical outdoor activities only, the relationship with stress became significant (P = .013). These results suggest that engaging in physical activity outdoors may reduce stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resilient communities? A qualitative interview study on sustaining a community project for health promotion among socially disadvantaged women during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVES

With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 a global pandemic impacted on health promotion, overlapping and hindering efforts to overcome the worldwide pandemic of lacking physical activity (PA). Nationwide lockdowns, the closure of public facilities and sports venues, made it significantly more difficult to sustain community-run PA projects. In our case study, we explore (a) under which circumstances a community-basedhealth promotion project can be maintained during crisis and (b) what resilience capacities are important for community project coordinators to deal with those aggravating circumstances.

METHODS

Our case study looks at a community-based project called BIG, an exercise promotion project for women in difficult life circumstances. The case study was conducted between July 2021 and January 2022 with six municipalities implementing the project. Following a triangulation approach, we used minutes from short exchanges (n=17) with community project coordinators, information brochures about current exercise classes (n=6) and semi-structured qualitative interviews with project coordinators (n=6). All data were analyzed using the framework approach.

RESULTS

All sites showed a high level of willingness to adapt to the pandemic situation and to maintain the project as best as possible. Findings highlight that coordinators whose work routine was characterized by intense relationship management with participants and trainers demonstrated higher levels of adaptive and absorptive capacities on an individual level than coordinators of those communities with less social cohesion. At a community level, important resources for strengthening adaptive and absorptive resilience capacities were job security of the coordinators, sufficient financial resources to adapt classes to changing circumstances, and a supportive organizational climate in the coordinators' working environment to allow them to react flexibly according to current pandemic regulations.

CONCLUSION

Despite high resilience capacities especially on an individual level, the low-threshold nature of the project could not be maintained at a pre-pandemic level. For many women, participation in the project was no longer possible at times. Awareness should be raised in communities that PA promotion programs are crucial to strengthening physical and mental health, even in times of crisis. It seems necessary to find permanent funding options for such programs, to integrate them permanently into municipal structures.

Participants Characteristics of a Park-Based Physical Activity Intervention in an Urban Context-A Cross-Sectional Study in Bologna, Italy

Physical inactivity, a leading risk factor for chronic diseases and premature death, is prevalent worldwide. This study focuses on participant profiles and factors influencing continued participation and physical activity (PA) levels in the "Moving Parks" PA intervention in Bologna, Italy. This intervention offers free group activities in city parks during the summer. A questionnaire was administered to participants in 2022, gathering data on socio-demographic information, chronic diseases, participation in previous iterations, and PA levels. Out of 596 respondents, 85% were women, and the average age was 50. About 56% held a university degree, and 73% exercised regularly in the winter. Continuous participation was linked to older age, higher education, and chronic conditions. Prior participation predicted higher winter PA levels. Notably, the majority of participants were educated, physically active women. While the project continually engages individuals with higher education and chronic conditions, it needs further tailoring to reach less represented populations.

Natural environments, psychosocial health, and health behaviors in a crisis - A scoping review of the literature in the COVID-19 context

The COVID-19 outbreak led to major restrictions globally, affecting people's psychosocial health and their health behaviors. Thus, the purpose of this scoping review was to summarize the available research regarding nature and health in the COVID-19 context. Keywords relating to natural environments and COVID-19 were combined to conduct a systematic online search in six major databases. Eligibility criteria were a) published since 2020 with data collected in the COVID-19 context b) peer-reviewed, c) original empirical data collected on human participants, d) investigated the association between natural environments and psychosocial health or health behaviors, and e) English, German, or Scandinavian languages. Out of 9126 articles being screened, we identified 188 relevant articles, representing 187 distinct studies. Most research focused on adults in the general population and was predominantly conducted in the USA, Europe, and China. Overall, the findings indicate that nature may mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on psychological health and physical activity. Through a systematic thematic analysis of the extracted data, three primary themes were identified: 1) type of nature assessed, 2) psychosocial health and health behaviors investigated, and 3) heterogeneity in the nature-health relationship. Research gaps in the COVID-19 context were identified regarding I) nature characteristics that promote psychosocial health and health behaviors, II) investigations of digital and virtual nature, III) psychological constructs relating to mental health promotion, IV) health-promoting behaviors other than physical activity, V) underlying mechanisms regarding heterogeneity in the nature-health relationship based on human, nature, and geographic characteristics, and VI) research focusing on vulnerable groups. Overall, natural environments demonstrate considerable potential in buffering the impact of stressful events on a population level on mental health. However, future research is warranted to fill the mentioned research gaps and to examine the long-term effects of nature exposure during COVID-19.

Effects of a randomized controlled hiking intervention on daily activities, sleep, and stress among adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Physical activity promotes health, and physical activity done outdoors in nature may be particularly beneficial. We conducted two randomized studies to examine the implementation of a winter hiking intervention and whether this intervention affected activity choices and aspects of well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Convenience samples of adults (n = 53; n = 51) were recruited into two different randomized studies in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Participants completed online surveys at baseline and 6 and 11-12 weeks later. Participants were randomized to a study group (intervention or control) shortly after the baseline assessments. In both studies, the intervention group received free access to a regional winter hiking challenge. In the second study, we also provided winter traction cleats to this group to facilitate engagement in the hiking challenge. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize intervention implementation, including participants' engagement in challenge hikes. Repeated measures ANOVA models were used to test intervention effects on key outcome variables, including hiking frequency via the Pleasant Activities List, stress via the Perceived Stress Scale, and sleep duration via the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

RESULTS

In the first study, the intervention group's engagement in challenge hikes was low (38.5%); reported barriers included access to winter hiking equipment. In the second study, when winter traction cleats were provided, engagement in the intervention was higher, and the intervention increased hiking frequency and improved sleep. There were no significant intervention effects on stress, but the direction of effects was in the expected direction.

CONCLUSIONS

Results highlight some potential positive impacts of this intervention designed to facilitate access to winter hiking. Future research could examine whether effects are stronger in a larger sample, in which additional barriers to engagement are addressed.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov on 28/12/2020 prior to participant enrollment (NCT04685681), https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04685681 .

Audio-Visual Preferences for the Exercise-Oriented Population in Urban Forest Parks in China

The purpose of this study is to explore the audio-visual preferences of exercisers in urban forest parks in China and to make practical suggestions for park landscape design. Taking Beigushan Forest Park in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province as a case, based on field research and questionnaire survey, this study analyzed the audio-visual preference characteristics of exercisers in the park, revealed the correlation between audio-visual preference and exercisers’ behaviors and individual characteristics, and explored the influence of audio-visual preferences on exercise feelings by establishing a structural equation model. It was found that (1) the forest and its avenue landscape and birdsong are most preferred by exercisers; (2) the audio-visual preferences of people with different exercise forms differ, for example, people who slowly walk, run, and briskly walk have stronger preferences for natural soundscape and visual landscape, while people who use fitness equipment have stronger inclusiveness for human activity sound and prefer public facility-based landscapes. In addition, some individual characteristics such as exercise intensity and exercise frequency significantly affect exercisers’ audio-visual preferences; (3) visual landscape preferences have a greater direct impact on exercise feelings, with natural waterscape having the greatest direct impact, but overall soundscape preferences do not have a high degree of direct impact on exercise feelings, with natural sound still having a strong positive impact. These findings provide a more quantitative basis for the landscape design of urban forest parks from the perspective of exercise behavior.