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‘This Is What the Colour Green Smells Like!’: Urban Forest Bathing Improved Adolescent Nature Connection and Wellbeing

Background: Research suggests that an early connection with nature can benefit wellbeing into adulthood. However, there is less research assessing whether adolescents benefit from formal nature connection interventions such as forest bathing (slow mindful nature walks). This research aimed to assess...

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Autores principales: McEwan, Kirsten, Potter, Vanessa, Kotera, Yasuhiro, Jackson, Jessica Eve, Greaves, Sarah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9741002/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36497670
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315594
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author McEwan, Kirsten
Potter, Vanessa
Kotera, Yasuhiro
Jackson, Jessica Eve
Greaves, Sarah
author_facet McEwan, Kirsten
Potter, Vanessa
Kotera, Yasuhiro
Jackson, Jessica Eve
Greaves, Sarah
author_sort McEwan, Kirsten
collection PubMed
description Background: Research suggests that an early connection with nature can benefit wellbeing into adulthood. However, there is less research assessing whether adolescents benefit from formal nature connection interventions such as forest bathing (slow mindful nature walks). This research aimed to assess whether an urban nature connection intervention (called ParkBathe) could improve adolescents’ nature connection and wellbeing. Method: In an experimental repeated measures design, 44 adolescents sampled opportunistically from Scouts groups, completed surveys and interviews before and after experiencing an urban nature connection intervention. Results: Paired-samples t-tests between baseline and post-intervention survey scores revealed statistically significant improvements in anxiety (13% reduction); rumination (44% reduction); scepticism (17% reduction); nature connection (25% increase); and social connection (12% increase). The largest effect size was found for nature connection. Interviews revealed that before the session, participants had a mixed understanding and expectations of the intervention. Conclusions: After the session, the participants expressed enjoying the social aspects of being part of a group and being present in the moment by noticing nature. They expressed the effects of this as immediately calming and relaxing. Urban forest bathing improved nature connection and wellbeing in adolescents and could be implemented and/or signposted by schools and youth charities.
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spelling pubmed-97410022022-12-11 ‘This Is What the Colour Green Smells Like!’: Urban Forest Bathing Improved Adolescent Nature Connection and Wellbeing McEwan, Kirsten Potter, Vanessa Kotera, Yasuhiro Jackson, Jessica Eve Greaves, Sarah Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Research suggests that an early connection with nature can benefit wellbeing into adulthood. However, there is less research assessing whether adolescents benefit from formal nature connection interventions such as forest bathing (slow mindful nature walks). This research aimed to assess whether an urban nature connection intervention (called ParkBathe) could improve adolescents’ nature connection and wellbeing. Method: In an experimental repeated measures design, 44 adolescents sampled opportunistically from Scouts groups, completed surveys and interviews before and after experiencing an urban nature connection intervention. Results: Paired-samples t-tests between baseline and post-intervention survey scores revealed statistically significant improvements in anxiety (13% reduction); rumination (44% reduction); scepticism (17% reduction); nature connection (25% increase); and social connection (12% increase). The largest effect size was found for nature connection. Interviews revealed that before the session, participants had a mixed understanding and expectations of the intervention. Conclusions: After the session, the participants expressed enjoying the social aspects of being part of a group and being present in the moment by noticing nature. They expressed the effects of this as immediately calming and relaxing. Urban forest bathing improved nature connection and wellbeing in adolescents and could be implemented and/or signposted by schools and youth charities. MDPI 2022-11-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9741002/ /pubmed/36497670 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315594 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
McEwan, Kirsten
Potter, Vanessa
Kotera, Yasuhiro
Jackson, Jessica Eve
Greaves, Sarah
‘This Is What the Colour Green Smells Like!’: Urban Forest Bathing Improved Adolescent Nature Connection and Wellbeing
title ‘This Is What the Colour Green Smells Like!’: Urban Forest Bathing Improved Adolescent Nature Connection and Wellbeing
title_full ‘This Is What the Colour Green Smells Like!’: Urban Forest Bathing Improved Adolescent Nature Connection and Wellbeing
title_fullStr ‘This Is What the Colour Green Smells Like!’: Urban Forest Bathing Improved Adolescent Nature Connection and Wellbeing
title_full_unstemmed ‘This Is What the Colour Green Smells Like!’: Urban Forest Bathing Improved Adolescent Nature Connection and Wellbeing
title_short ‘This Is What the Colour Green Smells Like!’: Urban Forest Bathing Improved Adolescent Nature Connection and Wellbeing
title_sort ‘this is what the colour green smells like!’: urban forest bathing improved adolescent nature connection and wellbeing
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9741002/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36497670
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315594
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