Fig 2 - uploaded by Catharine Ward Thompson
Content may be subject to copyright.
Difference in cortisol slope between participants living in high versus low greenspace areas (First published in Roe et al., 2013).
Source publication
This paper describes two case studies from Scotland, UK, exploring links between access to green space, perceptions of and activities in green space, and health and quality of life. One study involved a natural experiment to study the effects of improvements to woodlands near a disadvantaged urban community, compared with a similar community withou...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... greater diurnal cortisol decline was significantly associated (Pearson correlation, p<0.01) with the binary variable of high green space, compared to low green space. Thispattern is illustrated in Fig 2, showing that participants living in areas of higher green space had a steeper (healthier) cortisol diurnal decline (the green line) while participants living with lower neighbourhood green space had a flatter (less healthy) slope profile (the black line). Linear regression analyses also showed that the level of green space (measured as a continuous variable) was a significant predictor of perceived stress (p<0.05).Perceived stress was lower in high green space areas. We found higher stress levels more frequently in women than in men (Mann-Whitney U Test, p<0.05) and, for men only, higher stress levels were associated with not having a garden. In linear regressions, gender was a statistically significant predictor of mean cortisol concentrations, with lower concentrations of mean cortisol found in women (p<0.01). As a steep cortisol slope is considered an indicator of better health, and higher mean cortisol levels were associated with steeper cortisol slopes; this supports the interpretation that women in our sample were suffering higher stress levels than the ...
Similar publications
The health benefits of urban green spaces have been found to vary for different populations, such as people of different socio-demographics or different cultures. Among these populations, one remains understudied although its numbers are growing: Chinese international students. Indeed, more and more Chinese students choose to go abroad for higher e...
Citations
... This is, of course, not to disparage people themselves, but rather the society in which they live that permits such circumstances. Likewise, this view encourages a recognition that if societies wish their citizens to truly live well, they cannot just leave this to people's own resources or regard this as solely an individual affair, but instead must look to make the context as "salutogenic" (i.e., conducive to well-being) as possible (e.g., see Thompson et al., 2014, on this topic in relation to the community provision of green spaces). ...
Objective:
It is increasingly appreciated that mental health may not just involve a relative absence of mental illness, but the active presence of positive psychological desiderata. However, research attention on mental illness and health has tended to remain siloed and disconnected-proceeding along parallel tracks-with their potential relationship underexplored and undertheorized. As such, we sought to develop theoretical models to help us better understand the interaction of these two domains of experience.
Methods:
Through extensive engagement with relevant literature, we created two complementary meta-conceptual frameworks to represent and evaluate states of mental illness and health.
Results:
The Mental Illness-Health Matrix allows different forms of mental illness and health to be situated and assessed within a common framework. The Mental State Space Matrix further enables these various forms to be conceptualized and appraised in terms of numerous common parameters (e.g., valence and arousal).
Conclusion:
It is hoped that these frameworks will stimulate and support further research on the inter-relational dynamics of illness and health. Indeed, the matrices themselves are provisional works-in-progress, with their articulation here intended as a foundation for their further development as understanding of these topics evolves and improves.
... It helps build residents' sense of community and plays an important role in maintaining urban ecological balance [1]. However, there is evidence that compared to advantaged neighborhoods, green spaces in disadvantaged neighborhoods are underutilised due to quality, safety, environment, distance, and other issues [2]. Cohen et al. [3] argued that disadvantaged neighborhoods have fewer green spaces. ...
... (1) To explore the usage patterns of green spaces among residents of old residential neighborhoods. (2) To identify the constraints that prevent the residents of old residential areas from using green spaces. (3) To provide a reference for the planning and design of green space in old residential areas in the future. ...
... (1) Located in the main urban area (N = 891). (2) The main urban area consists of four districts, and we select the old residential neighborhoods with the largest number of households from each district (N = 4). After screening, four large-scale old residential neighborhoods in the main urban area of Shijiazhuang were selected, including Qing Yuan Neighborhood, Xi Li Street Living Neighborhood, Mian Si Neighborhood, and Gao Ju Neighborhood ( Figure 3). ...
Studies have shown that disadvantaged neighborhoods have fewer green spaces, resources, and facilities, resulting in residents facing more barriers to using green spaces. This study aims to quantify green space usage patterns and constraints in old residential neighborhoods in a large city in northern China. A questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 668 residents. Results showed that most residents visited their local green spaces daily, often in the evenings, and spent between 30 and 60 min there. The number of visits on weekends is higher than on weekdays, with no difference in visiting alone or in groups. The main reason for visiting green spaces was to relax and enjoy nature, followed by spending time with family. Limitations to usage included poor physical environments, such as inadequate facilities, lack of maintenance, overcrowding, poor accessibility, limited activities, and pet restrictions. This study provides insights into the current state of green space utilization in old residential neighborhoods, as well as a discussion of the limitations, which could inform future renovations and designs of green spaces in these areas.
... The size of urban parks is usually between 40-100 hectares, which can cater for 50,000 and above visitors for recreational activities. In previous studies, individuals who engaged adequately with the green environment demonstrated positive mental health outcomes (Van den Berg et al., 2010;Thompson et al., 2014;Ujang et al., 2015;Moulay & Ujang, 2016;Ishak et al., 2018). Ayala-Azcárraga et al. (2019), in a study undertaken in Mexico City, stated that the characteristics which defined the association of urban parks with visitor use patterns included the proximity to residential areas, tree abundance, safety, playground qualities, and park hygiene. ...
This study investigates park elements influencing the park visit frequency of low-income communities in an urban area, Kuala Lumpur. A set of survey questionnaires was distributed to identify participants' health history, the frequency of park visits and the park elements that pleasure low-income users during visits to Rimba Bukit Kerinchi Park in Pantai Dalam. The findings show the low-income community was unsatisfied with the park's safety. As a recommendation, additional planning guidance to planners and professional designers assists in accommodating a low-income-friendly park that supports healthy lifestyles. Keywords: Urban park; low-income community; mental health; preliminary study eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA CE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i21.3720
... The size of urban parks is usually between 40-100 hectares, which can cater for 50,000 and above visitors for recreational activities. In previous studies, individuals who engaged adequately with the green environment demonstrated positive mental health outcomes (Van den Berg et al., 2010;Thompson et al., 2014;Ujang et al., 2015;Moulay & Ujang, 2016;Ishak et al., 2018). Ayala-Azcárraga et al. (2019), in a study undertaken in Mexico City, stated that the characteristics which defined the association of urban parks with visitor use patterns included the proximity to residential areas, tree abundance, safety, playground qualities, and park hygiene. ...
This study investigates park elements influencing the park visit frequency of low-income communities in an urban area, Kuala Lumpur. A set of survey questionnaires was distributed to identify participants' health history, the frequency of park visits and the park elements that pleasure low-income users during visits to Rimba Bukit Kerinchi Park in Pantai Dalam. The findings show the low-income community was unsatisfied with the park's safety. As a recommendation, additional planning guidance to planners and professional designers assists in accommodating a low-income-friendly park that supports healthy lifestyles.
... For example, people who are exposed to more vegetated outdoor environments tend to have lower levels of cortisol compared to those exposed to less vegetated urban environments (Roe et al., 2013;Triguero-Mas et al., 2017). Moreover, people who live in communities which provide access to green spaces not only have lower levels of perceived stress but also have greater diurnal cortisol decline (Thompson et al., 2014). Students who learn in a natural environment, such as in a forest, have greater declines in cortisol than students who learn in a traditional classroom setting (Dettweiler et al., 2017). ...
The potential for urban open spaces to convey therapeutic benefits is increasingly substantiated. More work is needed to specifically consider how low impact designs to manage stormwater such as ecoroofs perform in this context. Here, we report on a pilot study addressing: (1) factors determining whether a hospital has an ecoroof, and (2) how ecoroofs might convey therapeutic benefits. We utilized a mixed methods approach which encompassed phone interviews of hospital ecoroof managers as well as analysis of national hospital databases. We also conducted a local case study which compared cortisol samples and stress indicators from patients, staff, and caregivers visiting an ecoroof to those waiting indoors at the Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland OR. Behavioral observations took place at this same location. In 2017, we identified 105 hospitals with ecoroofs in the contiguous United States. Our analysis of a national hospital database found two factors that significantly increased the likelihood of a hospital having an ecoroof: Medicaid discharges per year; and non-profit status. Interviews with practitioners nationally revealed a wide range of motivations but that therapy was a consideration for a majority, but notably not all, of the hospitals surveyed. They similarly noted variation in roof design, maintenance, and programming around horticultural therapy; we highlight some best practices here. Our physiological case study was limited in sample size. Preliminary findings showed that salivary cortisol levels varied by ecoroof visitor type, ranging on average from 0.09 μg/ml for caregivers to 0.30 μg/ml for patients. We did not observe any significant changes in visitor cortisol. This could be explained by low replication or the short treatment duration. Alternatively, these pilot data may indicate a gap in horticultural therapy theory vs. practice. Behavioral observations demonstrated a wide array of different uses of the ecoroof space such as cell phone use and passing by. Though preliminary, our findings suggest that therapeutic effects may vary by user type and activity and depend on roof design and goals. This study offers both information on the therapeutic potential of hospital ecoroofs as well as lessons learned regarding different approaches to researching this somewhat new topic.
... Only one study (Hoehner et al., 2012) additionally employed biomarkers of metabolic health such as triglycerides and glucose derived from fasting blood tests. There has been an emerging trend in the application of biomarkers including those derived from saliva and blood samples to establish environment-body relationship in the field Thompson et al., 2014). Future studies should also consider employing biomarkers as an objective measure of obesity for untangling its relationship with workplace built environment to its precision. ...
Background
Metabolic health is one of the key determinants of healthy living. Specifically, maintaining healthy weight, regulation of blood pressure, lipids and glucose over the life course have been reported to be protective on chronic diseases and premature mortality. With the global workforce spending, on average, one-third of the weekly time budget in the workplace, the role of workplace environment in enhancing metabolic health becomes important. However, there has thus far been no review synthesizing evidence on the links between workplace built environment and metabolic health.
Methods
A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted synthesizing evidence on the associations of built environment attributes measured within the workplace neighbourhood and metabolic health. A total of 16 studies that fulfilled the inclusion/exclusion criteria were identified via systematic search of English language peer-refereed publications up to July 2021, in six databases. A systematic coding system was developed, indicating significant findings in expected/unexpected directions including null findings, and the quality of the pooled study was assessed. The Weighted-Z test method that accounts for the study quality was used to examine the strength of evidence.
Results
A quarter of the pooled studies were categorized to be of high quality. Among the workplace built environment attributes of access to/density of recreational facilities, street pattern, access to/density of destinations and services, and land use mix, very strong evidence was found for the association between access to/density of destinations and services and metabolic health (p < 0.001); specifically, access to full service establishments such as supermarkets, grocery stores and restaurants (p = 0.001). A relatively weak association between proximity to workplace and metabolic health (p = 0.019) was also reported.
Discussion
Given the lack of high quality studies, overall confidence in the currently available evidence is ‘low’. Well-designed longitudinal studies with rigorous measurements for exposures and outcome variables are necessary.
... Lastly, future research taking a strengths-based approach by incorporating indices of natural environmental supports (e.g., green and blue spaces) and community resilience (e.g., neighborhood cohesiveness, women's health organizations, and family support networks) would appropriately balance the primarily risk-focused line of inquiry we have discussed. Given past work showing the many physical and psychological health benefits associated with green/blue spaces (Crouse et al., 2018;Mygind et al., 2021;Thompson et al., 2012Thompson et al., , 2014Y. Zhang et al., 2020) and community social support (Anthony & O'Brien, 2002;Farrell et al., 2015;Wight et al., 2006), this is an important direction for future studies. ...
The experience of poverty embodies complex, multidimensional stressors that may adversely affect physiological and psychological domains of functioning. Compounded by racial/ethnic discrimination, the financial aspect of family poverty typically coincides with additional social and physical environmental risks such as pollution exposure, housing burden, elevated neighborhood unemployment, and lower neighborhood education levels. In this study, we investigated the associations of multidimensional social disadvantage throughout adolescence with autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning at 17 years. Two hundred and twenty nine low‐income Mexican‐American adolescents (48.6% female) and their parents were assessed annually between the ages of 10 and 16. Participants’ census tracts were matched with corresponding annual administrative data of neighborhood housing burden, education, unemployment, drinking water quality, and fine particulate matter. We combined measures of adolescents’ electrodermal response and respiratory sinuses arrhythmia at rest and during a social exclusion challenge (Cyberball) to use as ANS indices of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, respectively. Controlling for family income‐to‐needs, youth exposed to greater cumulative water and air pollution from ages 10–16 displayed altered patterns of autonomic functioning at rest and during the social challenge. Conversely, youth living in areas with higher housing burden displayed healthy patterns of autonomic functioning. Altogether, results suggest that toxin exposure in youths’ physical environments disrupts the ANS, representing a plausible mechanism by which pollutants and social disadvantage influence later physical and mental health.
... Lastly, future research taking a strengths-based approach by incorporating indices of natural environmental supports (e.g., green and blue spaces) and community resilience (e.g., neighborhood cohesiveness, women's health organizations, and family support networks) would appropriately balance the primarily risk-focused line of inquiry we have discussed. Given past work showing the many physical and psychological health benefits associated with green/blue spaces (Crouse et al., 2018;Mygind et al., 2021;Thompson et al., 2012Thompson et al., , 2014Y. Zhang et al., 2020) and community social support (Anthony & O'Brien, 2002;Farrell et al., 2015;Wight et al., 2006), this is an important direction for future studies. ...
The experience of poverty embodies complex, multidimensional stressors that may adversely affect physiological and psychological domains of functioning. Compounded by racial/ethnic discrimination, the financial aspect of family poverty typically coincides with additional social and physical environmental risks such as pollution exposure, housing burden, elevated neighborhood unemployment, and lower neighborhood education levels. In this study, we investigated the associations of multidimensional social disadvantage throughout adolescence with autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning at 17 years. 229 low-income Mexican-American adolescents (48.6% female) and their parents were assessed annually between the ages of 10 and 16. Participants’ census tracts were matched with corresponding annual administrative data of neighborhood housing burden, education, unemployment, drinking water quality, and fine particulate matter. We combined measures of adolescents’ electrodermal response and respiratory sinuses arrhythmia at rest and during a social exclusion challenge (Cyberball) to use as ANS indices of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, respectively. Controlling for family income-to-needs, youth exposed to greater cumulative water and air pollution from ages 10–16 displayed altered patterns of autonomic functioning at rest and during the social challenge. Conversely, youth living in areas with higher housing burden displayed healthy patterns of autonomic functioning. Altogether, results suggest that toxin exposure in youths’ physical environments disrupts the ANS, representing a plausible mechanism by which pollutants and social disadvantage influence later physical and mental health
... Research has successfully identi ed speci c characteristics of a built environment which in uence health and wellbeing. These characteristics include housing type and quality, noise levels, crowding, derelict buildings, the presence of 'environmental goods' (e.g., children's play areas) and the provision of green space (Weich et al., 2002;Guite et al., 2006;Evans, 2003;Ellaway et al., 2009;Ward Thompson et al., 2014). For example, one study by Bond et al. (2012), found that the physical aspects of a neighbourhood and the quality of residents' homes were signi cantly associated with wellbeing while in a systematic review of 263 studies by Wendelboe-Nelson et al. (2019) around ¾ of studies found a positive association between green space and mental health and wellbeing. ...
The influence of place-based factors on the physical and mental health of residents is well established and acknowledged within the population health approach to addressing health and wellbeing inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore the issues that global communities face. The current UK policy context of ‘levelling up’ represents these concerns and the need to address them. This research examines perceptions of community wellbeing and its determinants as collected within a city region of the North West Coast of England during COVID restrictions between June and August 2020. The paper aims to establish the structure, construct validity and reliability of a new measure of community wellbeing - the Wellbeing in Place Perceptions Scale. Further, it aims to examine how this measure of community wellbeing correlated with symptoms of common mental health as reported by residents of this relatively disadvantaged city region during this unprecedented time. Results indicate that the WIPPS has a reliable and valid structure, correlating significantly with another widely used measure of sense of community and with the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Its relationship to self-reported common mental distress is also clear. Though in need of replication and longitudinal testing, the findings reported here on this new measure remind us that individual and place-based factors combine to influence wellbeing and that community needs to have an increasingly influential role to sustainably prevent future mental health challenges.
... However, high satisfaction with the quality of resources might contribute to balance out the drawbacks of a weaker sense of coherence (Maass et al., 2014). Thomspon and colleagues (Thompson et al., 2014) found that satisfaction with the quality of a nearby woodland affected the quality of life in a disadvantaged urban community. What is more, increasing the quality of this forest strengthened its relationship with quality of life, and a fivefold increase in visits to the woodland (Thompson et al., 2014). ...
... Thomspon and colleagues (Thompson et al., 2014) found that satisfaction with the quality of a nearby woodland affected the quality of life in a disadvantaged urban community. What is more, increasing the quality of this forest strengthened its relationship with quality of life, and a fivefold increase in visits to the woodland (Thompson et al., 2014). Focusing on developing resources that are perceived as adequate and high quality by deprived groups might, therefore, be a beneficial strategy to reduce inequality in health (Maass et al., 2014). ...
... For example, women seemed to be more dependent on perceptions of safety and the presence of others for engaging in physical activity in their park (Krenichyn, 2004). For a disadvantaged urban community did increase in perceived quality result in more use of local woodland, simultaneously as it raised the woodlands' impact on quality of life (Thompson et al., 2014). Recently, green spaces with edible plants and possibilities for gardening have become increasingly popular and contribute to better health through physical activity, social contacts and a healthier diet (Stoltz & Schaffer, 2018). ...
This chapter casts light on how cities can facilitate good
health through urban planning, design and organisation, and
collaboration between multiple sectors. The way we organise
cities is one aspect of the social determinants of health and
can manifest or balance several aspects of social injustice.
This chapter focuses on matters of planning and maintaining
infrastructure, including transportation systems, green
spaces and walkability, as well as matters of environmental
justice across cities. Moreover, it is discussed how a Health
in All Policies (HiAP) approach can be implemented at the
city level, and in which ways the World Health Organization’s
(WHO’s) Healthy City Network contributes to this work. We
take a closer look at the evaluations of HiAP, as well as the
Healthy Cities approach, and to what degree they facilitate
long-lasting cross-sector collaboration. Last, it is discussed
whether and how a salutogenic orientation can link places
and environmental resources to health outcomes, and explore
the implications of this approach for salutogenic practice and
research.
