The Role of Natural Settings in Crisis Rehabilitation: How Does the Level of Crisis Influence the Response to Experiences of Nature with Regard to Measures of Rehabilitation?

Abstract

We compare people greatly affected by a crisis with those less affected to explore how level of crisis influences their response to experiencing nature. A questionnaire comprising a validated protocol to evaluate frequency of stress conditions, the level of crisis retention, reorientation and rehabilitation potential was answered by 547 individuals. The questionnaire also comprises items on everyday activities. Our findings may be interpreted as follows: experiencing nature has a more powerful influence on the rehabilitation potential of people greatly affected by a crisis; taking a walk also has an influence, although not of equal importance; the social factor has more influence on the rehabilitation potential of people affected by a crisis to a low/moderate degree. Individuals who have many experiences of nature are less affected by their crisis than are those who have few such experiences. We suggest that the rehabilitative effect of nature is tied to its function as an enriched environment. During stays in natural settings, an interaction takes place between sensory stimulation, emotions and logical thought—an interaction that leads to a new orientation and new ways of seeing one's self and one's resources. This seems to largely be a question of how we human beings take in and process information.

Key Words:

• Restorative effects
• affects
• people in crisis
• nature

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the people who have helped make the study and the report possible. In particular we wish to thank Associate Professor in statistics, Jan-Eric Englund, who has advised us concerning our statistical treatment of the material; and landscape architect Helena Nordh, who has assisted us during the completion of the paper. We would also like to express our sincere thanks to the respondents who answered our questionnaire. The research reported here was supported by Formas project number 25.0/2003-0665 and the Department of Landscape Planning at Alnarp.