Nature Contact and Human Health: A Research Agenda

By H. Frumkin, G. Bratman, S. Breslow, B. Cochran, Peter H. Kahn, Jr., Joshua J. Lawler, P. Levin, Pooja S. Tandon, U. Varanasi, Kathleen L Wolf and 1 more. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2017

971 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background: At a time of increasing disconnectedness from nature, scientific interest in the potential health benefits of nature contact has grown. Research in recent decades has yielded substantial evidence, but large gaps remain in our understanding. Objectives: We propose a research agenda on nature contact and health, identifying principal domains of research and key questions that, if answered, would provide the basis for evidence-based public health interventions. Discussion: We identify research questions in seven domains: a) mechanistic biomedical studies; b) exposure science; c) epidemiology of health benefits; d) diversity and equity considerations; e) technological nature; f) economic and policy studies; and g) implementation science. Conclusions: Nature contact may offer a range of human health benefits. Although much evidence is already available, much remains unknown. A robust research effort, guided by a focus on key unanswered questions, has the potential to yield high-impact, consequential public health insights. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1663

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/012ce0cefbba5dd8b83d7203c6933426597892ad

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In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Citations in the corpus

Adventure recreation and subjective well-being: a conceptual framework (2020, background): “Research has documented numerous benefits of both vigorous (e.g., green exercise, outdoor adventure) and less active outdoor leisure (e.g., Frumkin et al., 2017; Mutz & Müller, 2016).”
Psychological restoration in urban gardens related to garden type, biodiversity and garden-related stress (2020, background): “Urban greenspaces are of major importance for a broad range of public health issues (Frumkin et al., 2017; Tzoulas et al., 2007), including stress reduction and the”
Nature contact, nature connectedness and associations with health, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours (2020, result): “Evidence of positive associations in previous research has also been mixed (Frumkin et al., 2017; Hartig et al., 2014; White, Pahl, Wheeler, Depledge, & Fleming, 2017), possibly because quantity metrics such as those used here do not account for quality (Francis, Wood, Knuiman, & Giles-Corti, 2012; ”
The Role of Methodological Choices in the Effects of Experimental Exposure to Simulated Natural Landscapes on Human Health and Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review (2020, background): “Within the broader literature on the health benefits of nature exposure, the findings that pertain to mood and restoration versus attention restoration, stress recovery, and pain tolerance are inconsistent (Frumkin et al., 2017; Kline, 2009; Ohly et al., 2016).”
Conceptualizing adventurous nature sport: A positive psychology perspective (2018, background): “As meaningful connections to others has emerged as a fundamental dimension of health and wellbeing (Frumkin et al. 2017; Kawachi, Subramanian, and Kim 2008), and one of the most important predictors of successful aging (e.g. Waldinger and Schulz 2016), this aspect of ANS should be included in…”
Predictors of Nature Connection Among Urban Residents: Assessing the Role of Childhood and Adult Nature Experiences (2018, background): “In addition to the role that nature experiences may play in fostering nature connection, they also have the added benefit of promoting multiple positive health effects (Frumkin et al., 2017) and equity outcomes through their potential to be universally accessible.”