The Mental Health Benefits of Purposeful Activities in Public Green Spaces in Urban and Semi-Urban Neighbourhoods: A Mixed-Methods Pilot and Proof of Concept Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Peter A CoventrySteve Cinderby

Abstract

Access and exposure to public green space might be critical to health promotion and prevention of mental ill health. However, it is uncertain if differential health and mental health benefits are associated with undertaking different activities in public green space. We evaluated the health and wellbeing benefits of different activities in different locations of public green spaces in urban and semi-urban areas. We used a mixed-methods before-and-after design. Volunteers at three conservation sites were recruited and took part in group guided walks, practical conservation tasks or citizen science. Repeated measures one-way ANOVAs with Bonferroni correction assessed the relationship between location and activity type on change in acute subjective mood from pre- to post-activity, measured with the UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (UWIST-MACL). Qualitative semi-structured interviews were undertaken and analysed thematically to explore participants' perceptions about the health and wellbeing benefits of activities in public green space. Forty-five participants were recruited, leading to 65 independent observations. Walking, conservation and citizen science in public green space were associated with improved mood. Across all participa...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

May 30, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Cristina GagliardiPaolo Fabbietti
Oct 8, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Arnau CarreñoJosep Lloret
Feb 28, 2021·The European Journal of Neuroscience·Mijail Rojas-CarvajalJuan C Brenes
Apr 13, 2021·Frontiers in Psychology·Anam Iqbal, Warren Mansell
Jun 3, 2021·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Vincenza GianfrediCarlo Signorelli

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Software Mentioned

SPSS Statistics
UWIST
Excel

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