Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41138040›Full record

ArticleEcoHealth2026

A Consensus Statement for Ecological Medicine: Moving Toward Connection-Based Medicine.

Michael Makhinson, Landon Pollack, Ronan Hallowell, Conor H Murray, Jay E Maddock, Stephanie Michael Stewart, Avik Basu, David King, Helena Hansen, Ecological Medicine Working Group

Abstract readConsensus Statement
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in EcoHealth, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Michael MakhinsonDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, and the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. mmakh@ucla.edu.ORCID 0000-0001-6493-9699
Landon PollackDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, and the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Ronan HallowellDepartment of Medical Education, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2019-8555
Conor H MurrayDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, and the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9954-7601
Jay E MaddockSchool of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1119-0300
Stephanie Michael StewartDepartment of Psychiatry, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA, USA.ORCID 0009-0000-4110-4496
Avik BasuSchool for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4494-8453
David KingDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Helena HansenDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, and the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Ecological Medicine Working Group

Funding

MDMA as a Treatment for Social Deficits in SchizophreniaDP5OD036172 · OD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI Anya K Bershad · 2023 to 2026
$2.0M
NIH HHS DP5 OD036172
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mounting evidence across multiple disciplines supports the health benefits of connection to nature. Although this trend suggests that the human-nature relationship is integral to health, its importance is often overlooked in clinical practice due, in part, to lack of consensus on its scope, limits, and terminology. To fill a needed gap, we developed a consensus statement on an inter-connectivity based view of health termed Ecological Medicine. The study recruited an expert working group and used modified Delphi technique and focus groups. The Ecological Medicine Working Group was directed toward Ecological Medicine consensus goals that included: (1) a consensus definition and framework, (2) priorities for practice, research, education, and policy, and (3) Ecological Medicine's implications. A consensus definition and framework for Ecological Medicine was reached, focusing on the importance of human inter-connections (to self, others, non-human species, and natural environment) in informing health understanding. Ecological Medicine suggests that healthcare should shift toward inter-connectivity, relationality, and health practices involving connection-based interventions, especially nature-based interventions. This framework may benefit research, practice, education, policy and other domains of healthcare by focusing on the importance and benefits of connectivity-based health interventions and on the inseparability of human health and planetary health.

Indexed as

Environmental MedicineDelphi TechniqueFocus GroupsHumansecological medicineecotherapynature and healthnature-based interventionsnature contactsocial prescribing

Identifiers

PMID41138040
PMCPMC12932348

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.