Enhancing wellbeing with psychological tasks along forest trails |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Faculty of Social Sciences/Psychology, 33014 University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland;2. Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), 37900 Parkano, Finland;1. School of Computer Science, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland;2. Institute for Housing and Urban Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden;1. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Management, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 103012, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China;3. College of Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 800 Reserve Street, Stevens Point, WI, 54481, USA;4. College of Pharmacy, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, China;1. School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia;2. Institute for Housing and Urban Research, Uppsala University, Sweden;3. UNSW Business School, UNSW, Australia;4. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia;1. School of Medicine, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia;2. School of Communication and Arts, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;3. European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro, England, United Kingdom;1. Finnish Forest Research Institute Metla, Jokiniemenkuja 1, Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland;2. School of Social Sciences and Humanities/Psychology, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland;3. Department of Environmental Health, Environmental Epidemiology Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 95, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland;4. Department of Wood Engineering, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan |
| |
| Abstract: | The purpose of the study was to investigate whether deliberate psychological tasks, intended to focus people’s attention on the interaction between themselves and natural surroundings, are linked with mood enhancement and self-reported restoration. In four European countries (Finland, France, Luxembourg, Sweden), we surveyed the experiences of volunteers (N = 299) who walked forest trails and carried out psychological tasks printed on the signposts along them. We investigated the similarities and differences of the trail experiences between the countries. Via multigroup modeling, we further examined the moderating role of nature-connectedness in relationships between satisfaction with the contents of the psychological tasks, mood enhancement, and restorative benefits. The results showed that, independent of age and gender, participants were more satisfied with the trails in Sweden and Luxembourg than in Finland. We detected no reliable differences in the restorative experiences or willingness to recommend the trail for others. In the moderation model, satisfaction with the signposts’ contents was connected to positive restorative change and mood enhancement. The moderator effects of nature-connectedness were not significant for either outcome. Thus, it is likely that satisfactory tasks will work equally well for people varying in nature-connectedness. This is a promising prospect for public health promotion. The fairly high level of nature-connectedness among the participants limits the generalizability of our results.Conclusions concerning the role of nature-connectedness should be made with caution due to the limited coverage of the concept in our measure. Future studies that separate the effect of psychological tasks from the restorative effects of nature itself are needed. |
| |
| Keywords: | Engagement Psychological tasks Forest trail Mood Restoration Nature-connectedness |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
