Database

The articles in the database below represent a curated selection from our NHA (full) members and Executive Committee. Rather than being a comprehensive database, like what you would find on a mainstream database, this is a limited and curated list of articles gathered by our member. To be included, these peer-reviewed articles and resources must meet specific criteria, ensuring a foundation of quality. Articles included cover a diverse array of study types—experiments, qualitative research, and meta-analyses—all exploring the intricate relationship between nature and well-being. Priority is accorded to works addressing DEIJ matters or fostering consensus on vital topics. If you would like to submit an article to be featured in the database, please email manager@naturehealthalliance.org

List Display

Research Article

Mechanisms of Change in Nature-Based Pediatric Occupational Therapy: The Ecology of Change in Outdoor Therapy Model

Authors:Laura Park Figueroa, Gail A. Poskey, Katherine K. Rose and Noralyn Davel Pickens | | Occupational Therapy in Health Care | Latest Articles: 1-22

The purpose of this qualitative constructivist grounded theory study was to develop a model to explain potential mechanisms of change in the nature-based pediatric occupational therapy process, based on analysis of the perspectives of occupational therapy practitioners currently engaging in nature-based practice with children.

Research Article

Greenspace, stress, and health: how is epigenetics involved?

Authors:Ugoji Nwanaji-Enwerem, John E. McGeary and Diana Grigsby | | Frontiers in Public Health | Volume 12

Greenspace is a critical feature of a healthy built environment. Exposure to greenspace fosters improved wellness and health among living organisms. This paper introduces the Health: Epigenetics, Greenspace, and Stress (HEGS) conceptual model which seeks to provide greater understanding of these processes and to identify key gaps in the field regarding the epigenetic influences underlying how greenspace exposure impacts stress and health.

Report

Place Attachment and Meaning: Nurturing Nature Relationships

Authors: Kathleen L. Wolf and Curt Collier |

Place attachment and meaning are important, though rarely acknowledged, contributors to personal mental health and community cohesion.

Research Article

The benefits of nature exposure: The need for research that better informs implementation

Authors:Michelle Marvier, Peter Kareiva, Desiree Felix, Brian J. Ferrante and Morgan B. Billington | | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) | Volume 120, Number 44 (October 31, 2023): e2304126120

Concern about humanity’s detachment from nature has spawned a global push to increase the availability of green spaces within cities.

Research Article

The ‘Natural’ Accord of DuBois and Washington: An Environmentally Racialized Consciousness

Author:Jennifer D. Roberts | | American Journal of Health Promotion | OnlineFirst: 08901171231210071

The conflict and discord between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois regarding their premise and approach to racial uplift for Black Americans have been very well documented.

Research Article

Forest therapy as a trauma-informed approach to disaster recovery: Insights from a wildfire-affected community

Authors:Cat Hartwell, Juliette M. Randazza, Gregory N. Bratman, David P. Eisenman, Blake Ellis, Eli Goodsell, Nicole A. Errett and Chaja Levy | | PLOS Climate | PLOS Climate: e0000096

A trauma-informed approach to disaster recovery recognizes the potential impacts of trauma, promotes resilience to protect against retraumatization, and can support catering the needs of disaster survivors in affected communities.

Research Article

Physical activity and social interaction assessments in schoolyard settings using the System for Observing Outdoor Play Environments in Neighborhood Schools (SOOPEN)

Authors:Marnie F. Hazlehurst, Kathleen L. Wolf, Cary Simmons, Carolina Nieto, Mary Kathleen Steiner, Kimberly A. Garrett, Anna V. Faino, Mònica Ubalde López, María López-Toribio and Pooja Tandon | | International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity | Volume 20 (2023)

The schoolyard environment provides key opportunities to promote physical activity and socioemotional development for children. Schoolyards can also serve as a community park resource outside of school hours.

Research Article

Do Mental Health Changes in Nature Co-occur with Changes in Heartrate Variability and Executive Functioning? A Systematic Review

Authors:Sara LoTemplio, Joanna E. Bettmann, Emily E. Scott and Ellison Blumenthal | | Current Environmental Health Reports | Volume 10, Issue 3

Given the global burden of mental health issues, new solutions are needed to promote mental health. Nature exposure represents a promising option to promote mental health, but the mechanisms are poorly understood.

Research Article

From Environmental Racism to Environmental Reparation: The Story of One American City

Author:Jennifer D. Roberts | | Journal of Physical Activity and Health | Volume 20, Issue 11: 994-997

Picture a 2-mile-long, 200-foot-wide parkway bordered by rows of Maple and Elm trees with a bridleway down the middle that connects to a 350-acre park northward and a 56-acre park southward.

Research Article

Nature contact and general health: Testing multiple serial mediation pathways with data from adults in 18 countries

Authors:Lewis R. Elliott, Tytti Pasanen, Mathew P. White, Benedict W. Wheeler, James Grellier, Marta Cirach, Gregory N. Bratman, Matilda A. van den Bosch, Anne Roiko, Ann Ojala, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen and Lora E. Fleming | | Environment International | Volume 178 (August 2023): 108077

The role of neighbourhood nature in promoting good health is increasingly recognised in policy and practice, but consistent evidence for the underlying mechanisms is lacking.

Research Article

Time Spent Interacting with Nature Is Associated with Greater Well-Being for Girl Scouts Before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors:Carly E. Gray, Peter H. Kahn Jr., Joshua J. Lawler, Pooja Tandon, Gregory N. Bratman, Sara P. Perrins, Yian Lin and Frances Boyens | | Land | Land: Volume 12, Issue 7 (July 2023): 1303

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic rendered daily life overwhelmingly difficult for many children. Given the compelling evidence for the physical and mental health benefits of interaction with nature, might it be the case that time spent interacting with nature buffered the negative effects of the pandemic for children?

Research Article

An application of protection motivation theory to understand the influence of fear-appeal media on stated donations for coral reef restoration

Authors:Courtney Suess, Jay E. Maddock, Marco Palma, Omar Youssef and Gerard Kyle | | Tourism Management | Volume 100: 104797

This study applied a Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) framework and Extended Parallel Process Model to explore respondents’ emotional and behavioral responses to video treatments that messaged varied outcomes for coral reef health and pro-environmental behavioral adaption.

Research Article

Urban green space and mental health among people living alone: The mediating roles of relational and collective restoration in an 18-country sample

Authors:Tytti Pasanen, Mathew P. White, Lewis R. Elliott, Matilda A. van den Bosch, Gregory N. Bratman, Ann Ojala, Kalevi Korpela and Lora E. Fleming | | Environmental Research | Volume 232: 116324

Rates of living alone, especially in more urbanised areas, are increasing across many industrialised countries, with associated increases in feelings of loneliness and poorer mental health.

Research Article

Improvements in Depressive Symptoms in Nature May Be Partly Caused by Improvements in Vagal Tone: A Review and Theoretical Perspective

Authors:Devon Jecmen and Sara LoTemplio | | Ecopsychology | Ahead of Print

The positive effects of natural environments on mental health have been observed and studied for decades. Specifically, psychology research from across the world has suggested that nature can reduce depression symptomology, although there is uncertainty about the mechanisms behind this relationship.

Research Article

Black Bodies and Green Spaces: Remembering the Eminence of Nature During a Pandemic

Authors:Jennifer D. Roberts, Shadi Omidvar Tehrani and Gregory N. Bratman | | Global Culture and Sport Series | Sport and Physical Culture in Global Pandemic Times: 213-240

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed not only the true value of nature and open public spaces, but it reified the presence and persistence of racism in and throughout American institutions.

Research Article

Unsheltered Homelessness in Public Natural Areas Across an Urban-to-Wildland System: Institutional Perspectives

Authors:Monika M. Derrien, Lee K. Cerveny, Gregory N. Bratman, Chaja Levy, Paulo Frank, Naomi Serio and Dale J. Blahna | | Society & Natural Resources | Volume 36, Issue 8: 947-969

This article conceptualizes homelessness on public lands within a social-ecological systems framework, exploring dynamics in public natural areas in the Seattle metropolitan area (USA), a system with a compact urban-to-wildland gradient.

Research Article

Emotion regulation and virtual nature: cognitive reappraisal as an individual-level moderator for impacts on subjective vitality

Authors:Annalisa Theodorou, Giuseppina Spano, Gregory N. Bratman, Kevin Monneron, Giovanni Sanesi, Giuseppe Carrus, Claudio Imperatori and Angelo Panno | | Scientific Reports | Scientific Reports: 5028

People who make habitual use of an emotion regulation strategy such as cognitive reappraisal may be more sensitive to the emotion cues coming from a surrounding natural environment and, thus, get more benefits from virtual nature exposure such as enhanced subjective vitality.

Research Article

Keywords are missing: Insights from the publication keywords, abstracts and titles of an environment and human health research group

Authors:Daniel W. Derbyshire, Olivia Barnett-Naghshineh, Bethany R. Roberts, Riadh Ghemmour, Musarrat Maisha Reza, Morwenna Rogers and Lora E. Fleming | | Equity in Education & Society | Volume 2, Issue 1

Inequalities within academia – and the research outputs of academic – are a widely acknowledged problem. This results in the reproduction of knowledge gaps within academic praxis.

Research Article

Favorable Neighborhood Walkability is Associated With Lower Burden of Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Patients Within an Integrated Health System: The Houston Methodist Learning Health System Outpatient Registry

Authors:Omar Mohamed Makram, Nwabunie Nwana, Juan C. Nicolas, Rakesh Gullapelli, Alan P. Pan, Budhaditya Bose, Tareng Parekh, Sadeer Al-Kindi, Tamer Yahya, Kobina Hagan, Zulqarnain Javed, Kershaw Patel, Garima Sharma, Stephen L. Jones, Miguel Cainzos-Achirica, Jay E. Maddock and Khurram Nasir | | Current Problems in Cardiology | Volume 48, Issue 6 (June 2023)

This is the first study to investigate the relationship between neighborhood walkability and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in the United States using a large population-based database.

Research Brief

Living in Walkable Neighborhoods Improves Cardiovascular Health

Urban design that is supportive to walking is becoming an important and proven determinant of health, especially cardiovascular health. This study examined the link between walkability and cardiovascular risk factors by studying close to one million patients in an urban setting.