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An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks’ Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study

Urban green space has been positively associated with psychological and physical health. However, the linkage between exposure to parks and health outcomes remains unclear. The current study examined the meanings that people assign to city parks, as a way to understand the pathways by which parks ex...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Swierad, Ewelina M., Huang, Terry T. K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6121520/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30096851
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081693
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author Swierad, Ewelina M.
Huang, Terry T. K.
author_facet Swierad, Ewelina M.
Huang, Terry T. K.
author_sort Swierad, Ewelina M.
collection PubMed
description Urban green space has been positively associated with psychological and physical health. However, the linkage between exposure to parks and health outcomes remains unclear. The current study examined the meanings that people assign to city parks, as a way to understand the pathways by which parks exert their effects on health. We conducted qualitative interviews with twenty culturally diverse residents in New York City. Thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data. Results showed that all themes identified were related to parks fulfilling a basic human need for connection to (1) family, loved ones, and friends; (2) community and neighborhood; (3) self; and (4) nature. Based on these data, we proposed a human-centered framework for future research and interventions aimed at catalyzing parks as a vehicle to improve health and wellbeing. A human-centered approach emphasizes targeting the deep-seated needs and values of those we seek to engage and for whom health promotion and disease prevention efforts are designed. Our study shows that park transformations need to incorporate careful considerations of the human need for connection on multiple levels, so that park usage and its consequent health benefits may be optimized.
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spelling pubmed-61215202018-09-07 An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks’ Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study Swierad, Ewelina M. Huang, Terry T. K. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Urban green space has been positively associated with psychological and physical health. However, the linkage between exposure to parks and health outcomes remains unclear. The current study examined the meanings that people assign to city parks, as a way to understand the pathways by which parks exert their effects on health. We conducted qualitative interviews with twenty culturally diverse residents in New York City. Thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data. Results showed that all themes identified were related to parks fulfilling a basic human need for connection to (1) family, loved ones, and friends; (2) community and neighborhood; (3) self; and (4) nature. Based on these data, we proposed a human-centered framework for future research and interventions aimed at catalyzing parks as a vehicle to improve health and wellbeing. A human-centered approach emphasizes targeting the deep-seated needs and values of those we seek to engage and for whom health promotion and disease prevention efforts are designed. Our study shows that park transformations need to incorporate careful considerations of the human need for connection on multiple levels, so that park usage and its consequent health benefits may be optimized. MDPI 2018-08-08 2018-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6121520/ /pubmed/30096851 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081693 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Swierad, Ewelina M.
Huang, Terry T. K.
An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks’ Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study
title An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks’ Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study
title_full An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks’ Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study
title_fullStr An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks’ Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks’ Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study
title_short An Exploration of Psychosocial Pathways of Parks’ Effects on Health: A Qualitative Study
title_sort exploration of psychosocial pathways of parks’ effects on health: a qualitative study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6121520/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30096851
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081693
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