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It is well-evidenced that exposure to natural environments increases psychological restoration as compared to non-natural settings, increasing our ability to recover from stress, low mood, and mental fatigue and encouraging positive social interactions that cultivate social cohesion. However, very few studies have explored how the inclusion of people within a given environment—either urban or natural settings—affect restorative health outcomes. We present three laboratory-based studies examining, first, the effect of nature vs. urban scenes, and second, investigating nature ‘with’ vs. ‘without’ people—using static and moving imagery—on psychological restoration and social wellbeing. Our third study explores differences between urban and natural settings both with vs. without people, using video stimuli to understand potential restorative and social wellbeing effects. Outcome measures across all studies included perceived social belonging, loneliness, subjective mood, and perceived restorativeness. Studies 1 and 2 both used a within group, randomized crossover design. Study 1 (n = 45, mean age = 20.7) explored static imagery of environmental conditions without people; findings were consistent with restorative theories showing a positive effect of nature exposure on all outcome measures. Study 2 compared nature scenes with vs. without people (n = 47, mean age = 20.9) and we found no significant differences on our outcome measures between either social scenario, though both scenarios generated positive wellbeing outcomes. Study 3, conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk, employed an independent group design with subjects randomly assigned to one of four conditions; an urban vs. nature setting, with vs. without people. We explored the effect of moving imagery on psychological restoration (n = 200, mean age = 35.7) and our findings showed no impact on belonging, loneliness, or mood between conditions, but did show that—regardless of the inclusion of people—the nature settings were more restorative than the urban. There were no differences in psychological restoration between nature conditions with vs. without people. We discuss the implications for restorative environment research exploring social-environmental interactions.
Chris Neale; Stephanie Lopez; Jenny Roe. Psychological Restoration and the Effect of People in Nature and Urban Scenes: A Laboratory Experiment. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6464 .
AMA StyleChris Neale, Stephanie Lopez, Jenny Roe. Psychological Restoration and the Effect of People in Nature and Urban Scenes: A Laboratory Experiment. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (11):6464.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChris Neale; Stephanie Lopez; Jenny Roe. 2021. "Psychological Restoration and the Effect of People in Nature and Urban Scenes: A Laboratory Experiment." Sustainability 13, no. 11: 6464.
More than 40% of the world’s population still relies on traditional biomass for their cooking needs. A shift to advanced cookstoves can bring significant health and environmental benefits, but only with near exclusive use which requires significant changes in users’ behaviours. Since the emergence of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (now the Clean Cooking Alliance) in 2011, more attention has been directed to consumer and demand side factors in clean cookstove adoption and efforts to better understand individuals’ behaviours, household dynamics and decision making around the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels have increased. This paper presents a review of the academic literature (2013–2020) and aims to identify the most successful interventions of behaviour change techniques in the adoption of improved cookstoves as well as the most common barriers to success cited in the literature. The study sourced 40 peer reviewed published academic papers from spring 2013 to summer 2020, and identified the following most commonly used behaviour change techniques in the adoption of improved cookstoves: Shaping Knowledge (n = 19), Reward & Threat (n = 13), Social Support (n = 9), Comparisons (n = 4), Identity/Self-Belief (n = 4), Regulation (n = 0), Change in the Physical Environment (n = 2), Goals & Planning (n = 6). Based on these results, we present gaps in the literature and provide policy recommendations to promote the adoption and continued use of improved cookstoves.
Dylan D. Furszyfer Del Rio; Fiona Lambe; Jenny Roe; Nilufar Matin; Karen E. Makuch; Matthew Osborne. Do we need better behaved cooks? Reviewing behavioural change strategies for improving the sustainability and effectiveness of cookstove programs. Energy Research & Social Science 2020, 70, 101788 .
AMA StyleDylan D. Furszyfer Del Rio, Fiona Lambe, Jenny Roe, Nilufar Matin, Karen E. Makuch, Matthew Osborne. Do we need better behaved cooks? Reviewing behavioural change strategies for improving the sustainability and effectiveness of cookstove programs. Energy Research & Social Science. 2020; 70 ():101788.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDylan D. Furszyfer Del Rio; Fiona Lambe; Jenny Roe; Nilufar Matin; Karen E. Makuch; Matthew Osborne. 2020. "Do we need better behaved cooks? Reviewing behavioural change strategies for improving the sustainability and effectiveness of cookstove programs." Energy Research & Social Science 70, no. : 101788.
This perspective article proposes an agenda to investigate the impacts of front gardens (yards) on health and well-being. As front gardens are increasingly being paved over, significant ecological benefits will be lost. In addition, urban green infrastructure has a measurable role to play in addressing major public health issues related to mental health, chronic stress, inflammatory, and cardiovascular diseases. The social value of front gardens remains un-quantified. Future research can contribute to assessing the psycho-socio-cultural value of front gardens, and fostering healthy environments for people to live, work, and play in. A better understanding of the health impacts of front gardens can provide a relatable argument to protect permeable surfaces and spaces for nature, as well as to discourage the general public from paving over their front gardens. We propose eight central research questions to be addressed in future work, and elaborate on further variables, lines of inquiry, and suggested intervention trials and observational studies. Potential research findings will have implications for decision-making in fields of horticulture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and public health.
Lauriane Suyin Chalmin-Pui; Alistair Griffiths; Jenny J. Roe; Ross W. F. Cameron. Bringing Fronts Back: A Research Agenda to Investigate the Health and Well-Being Impacts of Front Gardens. Challenges 2019, 10, 37 .
AMA StyleLauriane Suyin Chalmin-Pui, Alistair Griffiths, Jenny J. Roe, Ross W. F. Cameron. Bringing Fronts Back: A Research Agenda to Investigate the Health and Well-Being Impacts of Front Gardens. Challenges. 2019; 10 (2):37.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLauriane Suyin Chalmin-Pui; Alistair Griffiths; Jenny J. Roe; Ross W. F. Cameron. 2019. "Bringing Fronts Back: A Research Agenda to Investigate the Health and Well-Being Impacts of Front Gardens." Challenges 10, no. 2: 37.
Jennifer Roe; Martin Knöll. Adolescent health and wellbeing: advocating a role for urban design. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 2018, 2, 697 -699.
AMA StyleJennifer Roe, Martin Knöll. Adolescent health and wellbeing: advocating a role for urban design. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. 2018; 2 (10):697-699.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJennifer Roe; Martin Knöll. 2018. "Adolescent health and wellbeing: advocating a role for urban design." The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 2, no. 10: 697-699.
This study follows previous research showing how green space quantity and contact with nature (via access to gardens/allotments) helps mitigate stress in people living in deprived urban environments (Ward Thompson et al., 2016). However, little is known about how these environments aid stress mitigation nor how stress levels vary in a population experiencing higher than average stress. This study used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to, first, identify latent health clusters in the same population (n = 406) and, second, to relate health cluster membership to variables of interest, including four hypothetical stress coping scenarios. Results showed a three-cluster model best fit the data, with membership to health clusters differentiated by age, perceived stress, general health, and subjective well-being. The clusters were labeled by the primary health outcome (i.e., perceived stress) and age group (1) Low-stress Youth characterized by ages 16–24; (2) Low-stress Seniors characterized by ages 65+ and (3) High-stress Mid-Age characterized by ages 25–44. Next, LCA identified that health membership was significantly related to four hypothetical stress coping scenarios set in people's current residential context: “staying at home” and three scenarios set outwith the home, “seeking peace and quiet,” “going for a walk” or “seeking company.” Stress coping in Low stress Youth is characterized by “seeking company” and “going for a walk”; stress coping in Low-stress Seniors and High stress Mid-Age is characterized by “staying at home.” Finally, LCA identified significant relationships between health cluster membership and a range of demographic, other individual and environmental variables including access to, use of and perceptions of local green space. Our study found that the opportunities in the immediate neighborhood for stress reduction vary by age. Stress coping in youth is likely supported by being social and keeping physically active outdoors, including local green space visits. By contrast, local green space appears not to support stress regulation in young-middle aged and older adults, who choose to stay at home. We conclude that it is important to understand the complexities of stress management and the opportunities offered by local green space for stress mitigation by age and other demographic variables, such as gender.
Jenny J. Roe; Peter A. Aspinall; Catharine Ward Thompson. Coping with Stress in Deprived Urban Neighborhoods: What Is the Role of Green Space According to Life Stage? Frontiers in Psychology 2017, 8, 1 .
AMA StyleJenny J. Roe, Peter A. Aspinall, Catharine Ward Thompson. Coping with Stress in Deprived Urban Neighborhoods: What Is the Role of Green Space According to Life Stage? Frontiers in Psychology. 2017; 8 ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJenny J. Roe; Peter A. Aspinall; Catharine Ward Thompson. 2017. "Coping with Stress in Deprived Urban Neighborhoods: What Is the Role of Green Space According to Life Stage?" Frontiers in Psychology 8, no. : 1.
Very little is known about how differences in use and perceptions of urban green space impact on the general health of black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. BME groups in the UK suffer from poorer health and a wide range of environmental inequalities that include poorer access to urban green space and poorer quality of green space provision. This study used a household questionnaire (n = 523) to explore the relationship between general health and a range of individual, social and physical environmental predictors in deprived white British and BME groups living in ethnically diverse cities in England. Results from Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) segmentation analyses identified three distinct general health segments in our sample ranging from “very good” health (people of Indian origin), to ”good” health (white British), and ”poor” health (people of African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Pakistani origin and other BME groups), labelled ”Mixed BME” in the analyses. Correlated Component Regression analyses explored predictors of general health for each group. Common predictors of general health across all groups were age, disability, and levels of physical activity. However, social and environmental predictors of general health-including use and perceptions of urban green space-varied among the three groups. For white British people, social characteristics of place (i.e., place belonging, levels of neighbourhood trust, loneliness) ranked most highly as predictors of general health, whilst the quality of, access to and the use of urban green space was a significant predictor of general health for the poorest health group only, i.e., in ”Mixed BME”. Results are discussed from the perspective of differences in use and perceptions of urban green space amongst ethnic groups. We conclude that health and recreation policy in the UK needs to give greater attention to the provision of local green space amongst poor BME communities since this can play an important role in helping address the health inequalities experienced by these groups.
Jenny Roe; Peter A. Aspinall; Catharine Ward Thompson. Understanding Relationships between Health, Ethnicity, Place and the Role of Urban Green Space in Deprived Urban Communities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2016, 13, 681 .
AMA StyleJenny Roe, Peter A. Aspinall, Catharine Ward Thompson. Understanding Relationships between Health, Ethnicity, Place and the Role of Urban Green Space in Deprived Urban Communities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2016; 13 (7):681.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJenny Roe; Peter A. Aspinall; Catharine Ward Thompson. 2016. "Understanding Relationships between Health, Ethnicity, Place and the Role of Urban Green Space in Deprived Urban Communities." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 7: 681.
Environment-health research has shown significant relationships between the quantity of green space in deprived urban neighbourhoods and people’s stress levels. The focus of this paper is the nature of access to green space (i.e., its quantity or use) necessary before any health benefit is found. It draws on a cross-sectional survey of 406 adults in four communities of high urban deprivation in Scotland, United Kingdom. Self-reported measures of stress and general health were primary outcomes; physical activity and social wellbeing were also measured. A comprehensive, objective measure of green space quantity around each participant’s home was also used, alongside self-report measures of use of local green space. Correlated Component Regression identified the optimal predictors for primary outcome variables in the different communities surveyed. Social isolation and place belonging were the strongest predictors of stress in three out of four communities sampled, and of poor general health in the fourth, least healthy, community. The amount of green space in the neighbourhood, and in particular access to a garden or allotment, were significant predictors of stress. Physical activity, frequency of visits to green space in winter months, and views from the home were predictors of general health. The findings have implications for public health and for planning of green infrastructure, gardens and public open space in urban environments.
Catharine Ward Thompson; Peter Aspinall; Jenny Roe; Lynette Robertson; David Miller. Mitigating Stress and Supporting Health in Deprived Urban Communities: The Importance of Green Space and the Social Environment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2016, 13, 440 .
AMA StyleCatharine Ward Thompson, Peter Aspinall, Jenny Roe, Lynette Robertson, David Miller. Mitigating Stress and Supporting Health in Deprived Urban Communities: The Importance of Green Space and the Social Environment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2016; 13 (4):440.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCatharine Ward Thompson; Peter Aspinall; Jenny Roe; Lynette Robertson; David Miller. 2016. "Mitigating Stress and Supporting Health in Deprived Urban Communities: The Importance of Green Space and the Social Environment." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 4: 440.