The aim of this study was to use a smartphone-based tool (Urban Mind) to monitor the impact of nature exposure on momentary mental well-being in real-time and in real-world environments. This study was based on previous research indicating that natural features in the built environment can counteract the detrimental effects of urban living and may even promote mental health. Such research, however, has usually relied on a single “snapshot,” which does not account for the different urban environments people experience throughout the day. Also lacking in most previous research is a consideration of the type and amount of nature people need to experience the beneficial effects on their mental health. Additionally, many related studies did not assess how individual characteristics might impact the mental-health benefits people experience from engagement with nature.
The Urban Mind smartphone app was designed to overcome some of the limitations of previous research. Urban Mind uses a methodology -- known as ecological momentary assessment – to examine how exposure to natural features in the built environment affects mental well-being in real time. The 108 adults, aged 20-67, who participated in this study used the Urban Mind app over a 1-week period. Each ecological momentary assessment recorded through the app lasted about 2 minutes and included the following: (1) the individual's perception of their surrounding environment; (2) the individual's geographical location using GPS-based geotagging; and (3) the individual's momentary mental well-being, based on an adapted version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. The baseline assessment also included a measure of trait impulsivity, that is the tendency to behave with little forethought or consideration of the consequences.
Results showed that exposure to natural features (including trees, the sky, and birdsong) has a time-lasting beneficial impact on momentary mental well-being and that the beneficial effects of nature were especially evident in people with higher trait impulsivity than people with lower trait impulsivity. Higher trait impulsivity was of interest because it is predictive of future risk of developing mental-health issues.
This study indicates that smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment can be used effectively to examine the relationship between specific aspects of the built environment and mental well-being as people go about their daily life. These findings also support the development of greater access to natural features in the built environment as a strategy to promote the mental health of people living in an urban environment.
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