| 11. |
- Lymeus, Freddie
(författare)
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Mindfulness training supported by a restorative natural setting : Integrating individual and environmental approaches to the management of adaptive resources
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis integrates restorative environments research and mindfulness research: two disparate but related approaches to managing the demands of modern living. Both offer ways to improve attention regulation by detaching from routine mental contents and engaging with present experience. However, restoration works bottom-up, from supportive environmental features, while mindfulness meditation works top-down, through effortful training. Complementarities between the two are the foundations of restoration skills training (ReST), a five-week mindfulness-based course that uses mindful sensory exploration in a natural setting to build a meditative state effortlessly. As in conventional mindfulness training (CMT), ReST involves a learning structure to teach versatile adaptive skills.Data were collected in four rounds, with successively refined versions of ReST given in a botanic garden and formally matched CMT given indoors. Data were collected to test short-term outcomes of practice sessions and long-term course outcomes. Four papers aim to determine whether ReST confers similar health benefits as CMT and has specific advantages related to lower effort and enhanced restoration. Paper I shows that on repeated measurement occasions across the course weeks, attention tests obtained before and after ReST practice sessions showed restorative effects (improved performance) consistently for general attention and increasingly for executive attention. In contrast, CMT practice indoors incurred increasing effort (deteriorated performance) seen in general attention. Despite these different short-term outcomes, ReST and CMT conferred similar generalized improvements over the course weeks. Paper II shows that ReST compared with CMT had higher course completion and better establishment of a regular practice. Compliance was mediated through perceived restorative qualities in the meditation setting and state mindfulness during the classes. Paper III shows that ReST was attended by at least similar benefits for general psychological functioning as CMT. Ratings of dispositional mindfulness and attention problems remained improved six months after ReST. After CMT, only attention problem ratings remained improved. However, chronic stress ratings were not lastingly improved with either course. Paper IV shows that with ReST, participants with higher initial ratings of attention problems subsequently completed more homework practice during the course. Homework practice in turn explained part of the improvement in dispositional mindfulness and attention problems. With CMT, homework practice was unrelated to initial attention problems and improvement. In conclusion, ReST is a promising alternative for people who struggle under heavy attention demands; effortful training is not necessary to improve attention regulation in early stages of mindfulness training. The theoretical and practical integration can guide further exchange between these related research fields.
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| 12. |
- Lymeus, Freddie, PhD, et al.
(författare)
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Restoration Skills Training in a Natural Setting Compared to Conventional Mindfulness Training : Sustained Advantages at a 6-Month Follow-Up
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-1078. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Restoration skills training (ReST) is a mindfulness-based course in which participants draw support from a natural practice setting while they learn to meditate. Well-established conventional mindfulness training (CMT) can improve psychological functioning but many perceive it as demanding and fail to sustain practice habits. Applying non-inferiority logic, previous research indicated that ReST overcomes compliance problems without compromising the benefits gained over 5 weeks' training. This article applies similar logic in a 6-month follow-up. Of 97 contacted ReST and CMT course completers, 68 responded and 29 were included with multiple imputation data. The online survey included questions about their psychological functioning in three domains (dispositional mindfulness, cognitive lapses, and perceived stress) and the forms and frequencies with which they had continued to practice mindfulness after the course. Former ReST participants continued, on average, to show higher dispositional mindfulness and fewer cognitive lapses compared to pre-course ratings. Improved psychological functioning in one or more domains was demonstrated by 35%, as determined by a reliable change index. Again, analyses detected no indications of any substantive disadvantages compared to the more demanding, established CMT approach. Compared to the CMT group, more ReST participants had also continued to practice at least occasionally (92 vs. 67%). Continued practice was linked to sustained improvements for ReST but not clearly so for CMT. ReST participants thus continued to use the skills and sustained the improvements in psychological functioning that they had gained in the course, further supporting the utility of ReST as a health intervention.
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| 13. |
- Smalley, Alexander J., et al.
(författare)
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Soundscapes, music, and memories : Exploring the factors that influence emotional responses to virtual nature content
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Psychology. - : Elsevier. - 0272-4944 .- 1522-9610. ; 89
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- From walking through a park to sitting on a beach, much is known about the therapeutic potential of direct contact with natural environments. Yet routinely in the UK, millions of people encounter nature in a completely different way: through their television screens. Despite the ubiquity of natural history programming, little is understood about its impact on the restorative and affective experiences of audiences. Nowhere is this truer than in the bold orchestral scores that accompany almost all nature documentaries. Whilst considerable evidence suggests that separately, both nature and music can provide a range of psychological benefits, how their pairing might affect the wellbeing potential of virtual nature encounters remains largely unknown. Similarly, scant research has considered how viewers' own experiences, recalled through memories, might influence outcomes. To explore these areas, we formed a transdisciplinary broadcast initiative, called BBC Soundscapes for Wellbeing. Part of this project involved a randomized and controlled experiment that presented participants (n = 7636) with a dynamic nature scene accompanied by one of four acoustic tracks. Results demonstrated that whilst adding music to this scene led to increased feelings of excitement, it led to no other restorative or affective benefits when compared to silence. In contrast, the addition of natural sounds was associated with greater feelings of restorative potential, calmness, and excitement. Natural sounds also drove significant increases in the complex emotions of awe and nostalgia. Crucially, results showed the substantial moderating effects of participant memories. Those with positive memories stimulated by the experience reported significantly greater effects across all conditions and dependent variables. We find that although the acoustic design of virtual nature encounters can affect a range of emotional responses, the memories triggered by these experiences may be far more important for predicting viewer outcomes.
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| 14. |
- Većkalov, Bojana, et al.
(författare)
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A 27-country test of communicating the scientific consensus on climate change
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nature Human Behaviour. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2397-3374.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Communicating the scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is real increases climate change beliefs, worry and support for public action in the United States. In this preregistered experiment, we tested two scientific consensus messages, a classic message on the reality of human-caused climate change and an updated message additionally emphasizing scientific agreement that climate change is a crisis. Across online convenience samples from 27 countries (n = 10,527), the classic message substantially reduces misperceptions (d = 0.47, 95% CI (0.41, 0.52)) and slightly increases climate change beliefs (from d = 0.06, 95% CI (0.01, 0.11) to d = 0.10, 95% CI (0.04, 0.15)) and worry (d = 0.05, 95% CI (−0.01, 0.10)) but not support for public action directly. The updated message is equally effective but provides no added value. Both messages are more effective for audiences with lower message familiarity and higher misperceptions, including those with lower trust in climate scientists and right-leaning ideologies. Overall, scientific consensus messaging is an effective, non-polarizing tool for changing misperceptions, beliefs and worry across different audiences.
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| 15. |
- White, Mathew P., et al.
(författare)
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Nature-based biopsychosocial resilience : An integrative theoretical framework for research on nature and health
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 181
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nature-based solutions including urban forests and wetlands can help communities cope better with climate change and other environmental stressors by enhancing social-ecological resilience. Natural ecosystems, settings, elements and affordances can also help individuals become more personally resilient to a variety of stressors, although the mechanisms underpinning individual-level nature-based resilience, and their relations to social-ecological resilience, are not well articulated. We propose ‘nature-based biopsychosocial resilience theory’ (NBRT) to address these gaps. Our framework begins by suggesting that individual-level resilience can refer to both: a) a person’s set of adaptive resources; and b) the processes by which these resources are deployed. Drawing on existing nature-health perspectives, we argue that nature contact can support individuals build and maintain biological, psychological, and social (i.e. biopsychosocial) resilience-related resources. Together with nature-based social-ecological resilience, these biopsychosocial resilience resources can: i) reduce the risk of various stressors (preventive resilience); ii) enhance adaptive reactions to stressful circumstances (response resilience), and/or iii) facilitate more rapid and/or complete recovery from stress (recovery resilience). Reference to these three resilience processes supports integration across more familiar pathways involving harm reduction, capacity building, and restoration. Evidence in support of the theory, potential interventions to promote nature-based biopsychosocial resilience, and issues that require further consideration are discussed.
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| 16. |
- White, Mathew P., et al.
(författare)
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Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing
- 2019
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spending time in natural environments can benefit health and well-being, but exposure-response relationships are under-researched. We examined associations between recreational nature contact in the last seven days and self-reported health and well-being. Participants (n = 19,806) were drawn from the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment Survey (2014/15–2015/16); weighted to be nationally representative. Weekly contact was categorised using 60 min blocks. Analyses controlled for residential greenspace and other neighbourhood and individual factors. Compared to no nature contact last week, the likelihood of reporting good health or high well-being became significantly greater with contact ≥120 mins (e.g. 120–179 mins: ORs [95%CIs]: Health = 1.59 [1.31–1.92]; Well-being = 1.23 [1.08–1.40]). Positive associations peaked between 200–300 mins per week with no further gain. The pattern was consistent across key groups including older adults and those with long-term health issues. It did not matter how 120 mins of contact a week was achieved (e.g. one long vs. several shorter visits/week). Prospective longitudinal and intervention studies are a critical next step in developing possible weekly nature exposure guidelines comparable to those for physical activity.
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