Boyd, F. and Brindley, P. orcid.org/0000-0001-9989-9789 (2023) Lessons from beyond the lecture theatres: What is still unknown when it comes to nature-based intervention for university students’ wellbeing? Digital Culture & Education, 14 (4). pp. 109-128. ISSN 1836-8301
Abstract
This paper presents lessons learnt from research on integrating urban nature into university students’ daily lives for wellbeing benefits. It examines the application of traditional and technological interventions as a way of increasing university students’ engagement with urban nature to support their mental health. It focuses on two research questions: (1) How does a walking intervention and a mobile phone app intervention in urban nature compare - in terms of their effect on nature connection and wellbeing measures? (2) How should engagement with the natural environment be encouraged for university students’ wellbeing? The use of two different styles of nature-based interventions demonstrated the implementation opportunities and challenges amongst the student population. Results analysed the extent of changes over time and differences within groups. This confirmed that the relationship between different aspects of an individual’s relationship with nature is complex and dynamic. The experience of conducting this research highlighted the challenges to implementing novel technological interventions - including creating a naturebased intervention scheme at a university. The difference in outcome measures and unexpected direction of change for connection to nature suggests the need for a holistic approach to improve student wellbeing, including different ways to integrate nature into the university experience.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode) |
Keywords: | urban nature; university students; interventions; mobile phone app; wellbeing |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Landscape Architecture (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL NE/N013565/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jul 2023 15:47 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jul 2023 15:48 |
Published Version: | https://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Digital Culture & Education (DCE) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:201478 |