Promoting Mental Health Through Engagement With Urban Nature: A Successful Pilot Test of The “Liga-te à Terra!” Intervention

Abstract

It is increasingly acknowledged that promoting exposure to, and engagement with, nature can help support mental health and foster pronature behaviors. The potential of everyday urban nature, however, has yet to be thoroughly explored, from the perspective of both public health and conservation policy. This study aimed to develop and provide a pilot test of a 30-day nature connectedness intervention (Liga-te à Terra!) aimed primarily at supporting stress management. Liga-te à Terra! was developed upon a recent framework combining the good things people notice in urban nature and the pathways to nature connectedness. It was tested on a sample of university students (N = 65) before the second-semester examination period. Students were randomly allocated to either a control condition (waitlist) or an intervention condition in which they were instructed to daily engage with the nature they encountered in their everyday urban surroundings. Results showed that participants who engaged in Liga-te à Terra! reported significantly lower levels of perceived stress and rumination, along with higher levels of nature connectedness, at postintervention. Importantly, no significant difference in time in nature was found between participants who engaged in Liga-te à Terra! and those in the control group. Overall, this study provides empirical support for urban nature as a valuable resource for mental health self-management interventions. The findings here obtained call for additional research to further explore the potential of Liga-te à Terra! at a wider population level and among different groups.