Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events experienced by children during their childhood years. ACEs and the stress associated with such experiences have been consistently linked to chronic physical and mental health problems across the lifespan. Researchers interested in the therapeutic and protective potential of nature for children with ACEs conducted two related literature reviews: one, focusing on the therapeutic potential; the other focusing on the protective potential.
Nine papers met the inclusion criteria for the literature review on the therapeutic potential of nature for children with ACEs. Twenty-two papers resulted from the search focusing on nature as a protective factor, but only two studies were selected “as substantially meeting the criteria”. These limited results highlight the sparsity of studies investigating the protective and therapeutic potential of nature with children with ACEs.
Two of the nine papers included in the first review were reviews of the literature. The other papers included studies focusing directly on children and/or youth, studies investigating the effects of a nature-based intervention on adversity, and papers presenting a discussion of nature therapy. The approaches to nature therapy used and the methodologies employed for the studies in this review varied considerably. Studies “substantially meeting the criteria” for the second review included (1) an investigation into the effects of a surf training program for youth at risk based on identity or status and (2) an investigation into the buffering role of urban greenspaces (parks, fields, backyards, streetscapes, gardens, forests, and rivers) among immigrant children and families at risk due to adverse social and material living conditions.
The researchers offer three overall findings of the two reviews: (1) children with adversity tend to experience poor physiological and often psychopathological outcomes; (2) children and adults at-risk or diagnosed with physical, emotional, and/or cognitive difficulties can benefit from therapeutic nature-based interventions; and (3) there appear to be no specific interventions for children with ACEs. While they conclude that nature engagement may serve as a protective factor before the harmful impacts of ACEs on development occur, they also call for more research to confirm this hypothesis. They also offer some mechanisms of action for practitioners and researchers interested in pursuing this line of thinking.
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