SynthesisQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2019
The effect of nature exposure on the mental health of patients: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic overview and second-order meta-analysis of nature-based interventions for stress, anxiety and depression.Nature human behaviour · 2026Pooled it
- Nature-based interventions: a systematic review of reviews.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Defining young people's mental health self-care: a systematic review and co-development approach.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Restorative effects of plant landscapes under different weather and phenology conditions: evidence from EEG and psychological responses.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Pain Catastrophizing: Mechanisms and Clinical Implications.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- Effect of a blended indoor and outdoor multicomponent structured exercise on depressive symptoms in Hong Kong older adults: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Nature's heart: a scoping review of the impact of nature-based interventions for cardiovascular and metabolic disease.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experience of a nature-based therapy intervention for children with long-term health conditions and associated psychological difficulties.Journal of health psychology · 2025Article
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Effect of Nature Exposure Dose on Adults with Mental Illness.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Experiences of Patients with Breast Cancer Participating in a Prehabilitation Program: A Qualitative Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Assessing nature exposure: a study on the reliability and validity of a Portuguese version of the nature exposure scale.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Physical environment features that predict outdoor active play can be measured using Google Street View images.International journal of health geographics · 2023Article
- Article
- The Relationship Between Nature and Immigrants' Integration, Wellbeing and Physical Activity: A Scoping Review.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2023Article
- Exercise-based rehabilitation in and with nature: a scoping review mapping available interventions.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Mental health clinicians' perceptions of nature-based interventions within community mental health services: evidence from Australia.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Effectiveness, cost-utility and physiological underpinnings of the FIBROWALK multicomponent therapy in online and outdoor format in individuals with fibromyalgia: Study protocol of a randomized, controlled trial (On&Out study).Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Psychophysiological restorative potential in cancer patients by virtual reality (VR)-based perception of natural environment.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- The Effects of Green and Urban Walking in Different Time Frames on Physio-Psychological Responses of Middle-Aged and Older People in Chengdu, China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe effect of nature-based interventions on self-reported mental well-being in patients with physical disease is gaining increasing attention. However, there is a lack of randomized controlled trials investigating this area. Due to the massive costs in health care systems, there is a need for new strategies to address these issues and an urgent need for attention to this field. Nature-based interventions are low cost, easy to implement, and should get attention within the health care field. Therefore, the objective was to find the impact of nature interventions on mental well-being in humans with a physical disease.
methodsIn four major databases (PubMed, Cinahl, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library), a systematic review of quantitative studies of nature's impact on self-reported mental health in patients with physical disease was performed. A total of 1909 articles were retrieved but only five met the inclusion criteria and were summarized.
resultsAll five studies were quantitative, with a control group and a nature-based intervention. A source of heterogeneity was identified: the patients in one of the five studies were psychosomatic. In the four studies with somatic patients, significant benefit of nature on self-reported mental health outcomes was found; the only study that failed to show a significant benefit was the one with psychosomatic patients.
conclusionA significant effect of nature on mental well-being of patients with somatic disease was found. The result in patients with psychosomatic disease is inconclusive, and more studies in this category are needed. Further research on the effect of nature on mental health is merited, with special attention to standardizing intervention type and dose as well as outcome measures within each medical discipline.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.