ReviewInternet interventions2024
The effects of digital nature and actual nature on stress reduction: A meta-analysis and systematic review.
Review in Internet interventions, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Virtual Reality Interventions for Stress Reduction in the General Population: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Nature-based interventions: a systematic review of reviews.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Digital Nature Interventions on Positive Psychological Outcomes: A Scoping Review.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Virtual Nature, Metaverse, and NAD⁺: A Narrative Review for Health Planning and Healthy Ageing.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Feasibility of a brief group-based immersive 360° mindfulness program for stress-related outcomes in health sciences students: a 4-week pre-post pilot study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Differential effects of forest environmental perception on psychological well-being: the moderating role of perceived stress in national parks.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of Virtual Reality-Based Relaxation in Older Adults: A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Tactile and olfactory stimulation reduce anxiety and enhance autonomic balance: a multisensory approach for healthcare settings.BMC psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: The study aims to conduct a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to assess the effects of digital nature and actual nature on stress reduction. Methods: In August 2023, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed, and EBSCOhost databases were used, and ten articles were in the analysis, with a total sample size of 886 participants. Studies within- or between-subjects design conducted in either a randomized controlled trial or a quasi-experimental design were included. No restriction was put on the year of publication or geographical region. Conference papers and dissertations were also included whereas, book chapters were excluded. Participants included those who were exposed to at least one form of digital nature exposure, such as static images, videos, 360° pictures, and 360° videos. The risk of bias determined through Review Manager 5.4 was used to assess the quality of the studies. STATA software package version 16 was used for visual analysis of funnel plots. For the assessment of potential publication bias, Egger's test was implemented. Results: Digital natural environments had the same level of stress recovery compared to actual environmental exposures with the same intervention content (SMD = -0.01; 95% CI: -0.15, 0.12). Subgroup analyses and meta-regression indicated that subjective or physiological stress measures, level of immersion, and data extraction method were not associated with pooled effect stress recovery. All subgroups showed comparable stress levels in both conditions. In addition, all included studies had different levels of risk of bias (low, moderate, and high). Conclusions: The present study concludes that previous research has generally shown that stress levels are reduced in both digital and actual natural environments. The results of the meta-analysis support this conclusion with no significant differences between the two modes of stress recovery through nature viewing.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.