10, 11 Third, contact with natural environments per se may reduce stress, improve well-being and promote immune response. 9 Second, they may foster and support social contact, again for which there is evidence of health benefit. 8 First, they may be conducive to physical activity (PA), for which health benefits are well proven. How do natural environments affect health? Three principal mechanisms have been proposed. 4 Good evidence from both individual- and population-level studies suggests, for example, that contact with natural environments and green spaces, such as parks, woodlands and river corridors, brings health benefits. 3 Epidemiological investigation and public health policy have long understood the environment primarily in terms of threats to human health however, there is now growing interest in the salutogenic properties and capacities of environments – that is, in the potential for environments to maintain and improve health. 2 Improving mental health and well-being is a public health priority.Įnvironmental influences on health, including mental health, are of particular interest because of their potential to affect large numbers of people. In Scotland, where this project was based, this cost has been estimated at £10.7B. 1 The economic cost of poor mental health is high.
Approximately 27% (83 million people) of the adult population in the European Union experienced at least one mental health disorder in the past year. High prevalence of poor mental health is a major public health problem in the economically developed world. The study’s public health focus (mental health) is presented and the intervention it evaluated is introduced. This section outlines the wider context and background against which the study was developed.
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