A Scoping Review of How Income Affects Accessing Local Green Space to Engage in Outdoor Physical Activity to Improve Well-Being: Implications for Post-COVID-19

Spencer, Llinos Haf; Lynch, Mary; Lawrence, Catherine L.; Edwards, Rhiannon Tudor

doi:10.3390/ijerph17249313

Cited by 34 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Echoing the current study's findings, a European study found that having green-blue nature views from the home was associated with fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety [61], and in Bulgaria, visible greenery from the home was associated with reduced depressive/anxiety symptoms [62]. Nature-based engagement in a private green space [63], near home [56], in local green spaces [64], or even within the home (e.g., houseplants) [62] have all been shown to support mental health in other global research during the pandemic. In the current study, some of the more passive forms of nature contact were the most commonly reported alternatives to outdoor nature experiences, and included indoor bird watching, listening to birdsong, and smelling rain or plants.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Increased Use of Porch or Backyard Nature during COVID-19 Associated with Lower Stress and Better Symptom Experience among Breast Cancer Patients

Pearson

Breeze

Reuben

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Contact with nature has been used to promote both physical and mental health, and is increasingly used among cancer patients. However, the COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges in both access to nature in public spaces and in cancer care. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the change in active and passive use of nature, places of engaging with nature and associations of nature contact with respect to improvements to perceived stress and symptom experience among breast cancer patients during the pandemic. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of people diagnosed with breast cancer using ResearchMatch (n = 56) in July 2020 (the first wave of COVID-19). In this US-based, predominantly white, affluent, highly educated, female sample, we found that, on average, participants were first diagnosed with breast cancer at 54 years old and at stage 2 or 3. Eighteen percent of participants experienced disruptions in their cancer care due to the pandemic. As expected, activities in public places significantly decreased as well, including use of parks/trails and botanical gardens. In contrast, spending time near home, on the porch or in the backyard significantly increased. Also observed were significant increases in indoor activities involving passive nature contact, such as watching birds through a window, listening to birdsong, and smelling rain or plants. Decreased usage of parks/trails was significantly associated with higher stress (Coef = −2.30, p = 0.030) and increased usage of the backyard/porch was significantly associated with lower stress (Coef = −2.69, p = 0.032), lower symptom distress (Coef = −0.80, p = 0.063) and lower symptom severity (Coef = −0.52, p = 0.009). The most commonly reported alternatives to outdoor engagement with nature were watching nature through a window (84%), followed by looking at images of nature (71%), and listening to nature through a window (66%). The least commonly enjoyed alternative was virtual reality of nature scenes (25%). While outdoor contact with nature away from home decreased, participants still found ways to experience the restorative benefits of nature in and around their home. Of special interest in planning interventions was the fact that actual or real nature was preferred over that experienced through technology. This could be an artifact of our sample, or could represent a desire to be in touch with the “real world” during a health crisis. Nature contact may represent a flexible strategy to decrease stress and improve symptom experience among patients with cancer, particularly during public health crises or disruptions to cancer care.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Increased Use of Porch or Backyard Nature during COVID-19 Associated with Lower Stress and Better Symptom Experience among Breast Cancer Patients

Pearson

Breeze

Reuben

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Another report from the U.S. showed that stayat-home orders have affected vulnerable groups who live in highly dense areas more than less vulnerable groups who have access to urban nature close to their homes (Slater et al, 2020). People who live in lower socio-economic areas tend to be more sedentary and face greater issues with access to green spaces (see Spencer et al, 2020 for a review). Also, vulnerable populations tend to contract COVID-19 at higher rates than less vulnerable people (Slater et al, 2020) and are disproportionately dying from the disease (Centers Disease Control Prevention., 2020;Yancy, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping With Crisis: Green Space Use in Helsinki Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Korpilo

Kajosaari

Rinne

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Cities

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The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged a deeper exploration about how people deal with crisis. This paper presents one of the first pre- and during-pandemic assessments of urban green infrastructure (UGI) use across the same individuals with the aim of better understanding how people's use of different types of urban green and blue spaces changed during the pandemic. A baseline Public Participation GIS survey (N = 1,583 respondents) conducted in August 2018 was followed up in May 2020 (N = 418 identical respondents) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Helsinki, Finland. We found that residents were more likely to visit UGI closer to their home during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic. Patterns of use of UGI were associated with the quality of residential green areas, for example, people sought out forests nearby one's domicile and tended to avoid parks and recreation areas in order to escape the pressures of lockdown, socially distance and avoid overcrowding. However, spatial cluster analyses also revealed that the places mapped by intensive users of natural recreational areas and more outdoor oriented users became more dispersed during the pandemic, suggesting their active search for new types of UGI, including use of agricultural land and residential areas with high tree density cover. Our results further highlighted that some types of UGI such as more distant natural and semi-natural areas and blue spaces serve as critical infrastructure both before and during the pandemic. Natural and semi-natural areas experienced very little change in use. The presented results have implications for how planners design and manage green spaces to enable residents to cope with crises like pandemics into the future.

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“…Since China has adopted unified isolation management measures for people infected with COVID-19, the subjects of the investigation were those who were not infected with COVID-19. The participants were divided into the following ten groups based on their age: 17 3), geographic location (province and city), occupation (Table 4), and region (town and village) of the participants.…”

Section: The Study Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies also have shown that there is a severe lack of PA guidance and mitigation strategies to advance the knowledge and role of PA to improve physical and mental health in most countries during the epidemic [15]. On the whole, existing studies have mainly revealed this phenomenon that there was a high prevalence of physical inactivity due to the outbreak of the pandemic and analyzed the importance of strengthening proper PA to promote physical and mental health and prevent epidemics [16][17][18]. However, a series of crucial questions need to be answered: Is the PA of all groups affected during the epidemic?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PA during the COVID-19 outbreak in China: a cross-sectional study

Nie

et al. 2021

Neural Comput & Applic

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COVID-19 has undergone several mutations and is still spreading in most countries now. PA has positive benefits in the prevention of COVID-19 infection and counteracting the negative physical and mental effects caused by COVID-19. However, relevant evidence has indicated a high prevalence of physical inactivity among the general population, which has worsened due to the outbreak of the pandemic, and there is a severe lack of exercise guidance and mitigation strategies to advance the knowledge and role of PA to improve physical and mental health in most countries during the epidemic. This study surveyed the effects of COVID-19 on PA in Chinese residents during the pandemic and provided important reference and evidence to inform policymakers and formulate policies and planning for health promotion and strengthening residents' PA during periods of public health emergencies. ANOVA, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, the chi-square test and Spearman correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis. A total of 14,715 participants were included. The results show that nearly 70% of Chinese residents had inadequate PA (95%CI 58.0%-82.19%) during the COVID-19 outbreak, which was more than double the global level (27.5%, 95%CI 25.0%-32.2%). The content, intensity, duration, and frequency of PA were all affected during the period of home isolation, and the types of PA may vary among different ages. The lack of physical facilities and cultural environment is the main factor affecting PA. However, there was no significant correlation between insufficient PA and the infection rate. During the period of home isolation and social distance of epidemic prevention, it is necessary to strengthen the scientific remote network monitoring and guidance for the process of PA in China.Keywords COVID-19 Á Chinese residents Á PA Á Influence Á Home isolation Á Social distancing Á Health well-being Á PA guidance Yingjun Nie and Yuanyan Ma contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.

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A Scoping Review of How Income Affects Accessing Local Green Space to Engage in Outdoor Physical Activity to Improve Well-Being: Implications for Post-COVID-19

Cited by 34 publications

References 39 publications

Increased Use of Porch or Backyard Nature during COVID-19 Associated with Lower Stress and Better Symptom Experience among Breast Cancer Patients

Increased Use of Porch or Backyard Nature during COVID-19 Associated with Lower Stress and Better Symptom Experience among Breast Cancer Patients

Coping With Crisis: Green Space Use in Helsinki Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

PA during the COVID-19 outbreak in China: a cross-sectional study

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