A review of self-report scales on restoration and/or restorativeness in the natural environment

Abstract

Restoration/restorativeness is defined as the recovery of diminished daily functions and capabilities, largely during people’s free time. Research on recovery requires measurements of the degree of restoration/restorativeness, driving the development of self-report scales on recovery. This study reviews existing self-report restoration/restorativeness scales based on PICOS (population, intervention, comparator, outcome, and study design) and psychometrics to provide suggestions for future applications. Systematic search methods and a simple snowball process were conducted for the direct and explicit self-report scales on restoration/restorativeness published in journal articles. The Web of Science was used as the database. Among the identified 15 scales, only 3 have been adequately analyzed using psychometrics. Of these 3, the Perceived Restorativeness Scale has the best generalizability and sensitivity for measuring the attentional restorativeness perceived in the environment, while the Restoration Scale is most suitable for measuring the perceived change in psychophysiological and mental restoration.

Keywords:

• stress reduction theory
• attention restoration theory
• psychometrics
• PICOS
• PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis)

Additional information

Funding

This study was the partial results of a research project sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan (MOST 105-2410-H-167-013). The sponsor had no involvement in the study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.