Park prescription programs are receiving increased attention as health promotion measures for children and adults. A park prescription represents a type of collaboration between parks and the medical community, where physicians encourage patients to spend more time in parks. Related research supports the effectiveness of park prescriptions in reducing stress in adults. This study investigated whether increased park visits might alleviate toxic stress in low-income children and bolster their resilience.
Data for this study is based on 54 parents and children (ages 7–17) who were receiving services through a pediatric safety-net clinic with a park prescription program for low-income families. Each family met with a pediatrician who provided a map of local parks and prescribed park visits three times a week. The pediatrician also provided information about the potential health benefits of time in nature. Data collection extended over a period of three months. The first assessment (baseline) was conducted during intake interviews, with a pediatrician interviewing one guardian per family and a research assistant interviewing one child per family. Information collected at this time included demographics, history of park visits, child resilience, parental stress and parental coping. At one and three months out, parents and children provided additional data -- parents reported their child's park visits per week, baseline ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) score, their own stress and coping; children reported resilience and stress. The resilience assessment included five items from the Brief Resiliency Scale, each item focusing on how the child deals with hard times or stressful events.
Baseline scores, as well as scores at the end of the study, showed a strong association between parental stress and child stress. Results also showed that every increase in weekly park visits led to a significant increase in resilience as reported by the children. This held true at every level of childhood adversity as measured by the ACE score. Older children reported better resilience than younger children. As resilience scores increased, child stress scores decreased, providing some indication that childhood stress partially mediates the relationship between park visits and resilience.
The overall findings of this longitudinal study indicate that park prescriptions may be effective in addressing pediatric stress and resilience. These findings also indicate that parks may be a potential community resource for pediatricians serving children experiencing stress. With these findings in mind, the authors suggest “that resilience, which indicates a balanced response to stress, may over the course of a lifetime explain why nature exposure has been found to impact multiple pathways and have multiple health benefits.”
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