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The Effects of Workplace Nature-Based Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Employees: A Systematic Review

Mental health in the workplace is a societal challenge with serious economical and human costs. Most prevalent mental disorders in the workforce (e.g., depression), however, are preventable. There is widespread agreement about the favorable effects of nature exposure and consequently, nature-based i...

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Autores principales: Gritzka, Susan, MacIntyre, Tadhg E., Dörfel, Denise, Baker-Blanc, Jordan L., Calogiuri, Giovanna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7198870/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32411026
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00323
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author Gritzka, Susan
MacIntyre, Tadhg E.
Dörfel, Denise
Baker-Blanc, Jordan L.
Calogiuri, Giovanna
author_facet Gritzka, Susan
MacIntyre, Tadhg E.
Dörfel, Denise
Baker-Blanc, Jordan L.
Calogiuri, Giovanna
author_sort Gritzka, Susan
collection PubMed
description Mental health in the workplace is a societal challenge with serious economical and human costs. Most prevalent mental disorders in the workforce (e.g., depression), however, are preventable. There is widespread agreement about the favorable effects of nature exposure and consequently, nature-based interventions (NBI) in the workplace have been proposed as a cost-effective approach to promote good health among employees. The objective of the present study was to systematically review scientific evidence on the effectiveness of NBI to promote mental health and well-being among actual employees in actual workplace settings. The review was conducted and presented in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The literature search was performed on five databases (PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, CINHAL, and PsycINFO), hand-searching of field-specific journals, and the reference lists of retrieved papers over the past 5 years up to November (13(th), 2018). Studies were eligible for inclusion if they (i) were randomized or nonrandomized controlled trials; (ii) comprised samples of actual employees; (iii) implemented a workplace-based intervention with exposure to nature; (iv) included comparison conditions that displayed a clear contrast to NBIs; and (v) investigated the quantitative effects on mental health or well-being. No restrictions on type of employees or workplace, publication period, or language of the publication were set. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane’s RoB2 tool. Narrative synthesis was performed due to large heterogeneity in outcome variables. Of the 510 articles identified, 10 NBIs (nine papers) met the eligibility criteria. The outcomes were grouped in five categories: (i) mental health indices, (ii) cognitive ability, (iii) recovery and restoration, (iv) work and life satisfaction, and (v) psychophysiological indicators. Narrative synthesis indicates consistently positive effects on mental health indices and cognitive ability, while mixed results were found for the other outcome categories. Caution must be given when interpreting the current evidence in this emerging research field because of the diversity of NBIs and the overall high risk of bias in the individual studies. Although in this field often researchers have to balance scientific rigor and ecological validity, there is a need for large, well-designed and rigorously conducted trials grounded in contemporary theories.
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spelling pubmed-71988702020-05-14 The Effects of Workplace Nature-Based Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Employees: A Systematic Review Gritzka, Susan MacIntyre, Tadhg E. Dörfel, Denise Baker-Blanc, Jordan L. Calogiuri, Giovanna Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Mental health in the workplace is a societal challenge with serious economical and human costs. Most prevalent mental disorders in the workforce (e.g., depression), however, are preventable. There is widespread agreement about the favorable effects of nature exposure and consequently, nature-based interventions (NBI) in the workplace have been proposed as a cost-effective approach to promote good health among employees. The objective of the present study was to systematically review scientific evidence on the effectiveness of NBI to promote mental health and well-being among actual employees in actual workplace settings. The review was conducted and presented in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The literature search was performed on five databases (PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, CINHAL, and PsycINFO), hand-searching of field-specific journals, and the reference lists of retrieved papers over the past 5 years up to November (13(th), 2018). Studies were eligible for inclusion if they (i) were randomized or nonrandomized controlled trials; (ii) comprised samples of actual employees; (iii) implemented a workplace-based intervention with exposure to nature; (iv) included comparison conditions that displayed a clear contrast to NBIs; and (v) investigated the quantitative effects on mental health or well-being. No restrictions on type of employees or workplace, publication period, or language of the publication were set. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane’s RoB2 tool. Narrative synthesis was performed due to large heterogeneity in outcome variables. Of the 510 articles identified, 10 NBIs (nine papers) met the eligibility criteria. The outcomes were grouped in five categories: (i) mental health indices, (ii) cognitive ability, (iii) recovery and restoration, (iv) work and life satisfaction, and (v) psychophysiological indicators. Narrative synthesis indicates consistently positive effects on mental health indices and cognitive ability, while mixed results were found for the other outcome categories. Caution must be given when interpreting the current evidence in this emerging research field because of the diversity of NBIs and the overall high risk of bias in the individual studies. Although in this field often researchers have to balance scientific rigor and ecological validity, there is a need for large, well-designed and rigorously conducted trials grounded in contemporary theories. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-04-28 /pmc/articles/PMC7198870/ /pubmed/32411026 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00323 Text en Copyright © 2020 Gritzka, MacIntyre, Dörfel, Baker-Blanc and Calogiuri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Gritzka, Susan
MacIntyre, Tadhg E.
Dörfel, Denise
Baker-Blanc, Jordan L.
Calogiuri, Giovanna
The Effects of Workplace Nature-Based Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Employees: A Systematic Review
title The Effects of Workplace Nature-Based Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Employees: A Systematic Review
title_full The Effects of Workplace Nature-Based Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Employees: A Systematic Review
title_fullStr The Effects of Workplace Nature-Based Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Employees: A Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed The Effects of Workplace Nature-Based Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Employees: A Systematic Review
title_short The Effects of Workplace Nature-Based Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Employees: A Systematic Review
title_sort effects of workplace nature-based interventions on the mental health and well-being of employees: a systematic review
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7198870/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32411026
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00323
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