This paper presents an intervention designed to increase people's connectedness to nature and describes an experimental study assessing the effectiveness of this intervention. The study was based on the understanding that “simple interventions to increase people's connectedness to nature in a sustained manner would be valuable for human well-being and nature conservation.” The intervention is described as “three good things in nature.”
Ninety-two individuals (age 18-65) participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. Individuals in the intervention group (N=50) were required to write three good things in nature each day over a period of five consecutive days. Individuals in the control group were required to write three factual things each day over five consecutive days. All of the participants completed assessments three times: baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up at two months. The assessments included the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The CNS measures a sense of kinship with plants and animals, a sense of oneness with the natural world, and a sense of equality between nature and the self. The GHQ-12 measures respondents' current mental health and psychological well-being.
Baseline results of the CNS and the GHQ-12 showed no differences between the two groups in their connectedness to nature and psychological health prior to intervention. There were significant differences, however, at post-intervention and follow-up, with the intervention group showing sustained and significant increases in nature connectedness compared to the control group. Results also showed a positive association between nature connectedness and psychological health in the intervention group.
These results indicate that the intervention used in this study – "three good things in nature" – was a success in improving people's self-reported connection to nature. These results provide “good reason” to conduct further research on the effectiveness of the “three good things in nature” intervention in promoting other nature-related benefits, including pro-environmental behavior and improved psychological health. As the “three good things in nature” task is well suited for use by children, future work could include this population.
Research Partner