Improving mental well-being through culture-specific outdoor learning: A mixed-methods study
Author
Stancil, Missy
Abstract
Background: Green prescriptions—nature-based interventions to improve human health—are becoming increasingly popular. Research has highlighted a need for inclusion of culture in green prescriptions as how humans conceive of and engage with nature is informed by culture. This project aimed to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of a culture-specific outdoor learning program in improving mental well-being.
Methods: The biopsychosocial model guided this phenomenological concurrent mixed-method study. A purposive sample of participants (n=32) of the Shieling Project were recruited to participate in an immersive 6-day Gaelic culture-specific outdoor learning program in Scotland, UK. Data collection occurred from June 27 to September 3, 2022. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were collected at baseline and end of project, using four well-established instruments—the Self-Connection Scale (SCS), the Social Connectedness Scale-Revised (SCS-R), the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale (INS), and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS). Thematic and content analyses were conducted for qualitative data. Paired t-tests and Pearson correlation were used to analyze quantitative data. Triangulation was conducted of thematic analysis with content analysis. Content analysis was triangulated with quantitative results to assess for convergence.
Results: Thematic analyses showed four key themes regarding the culture-specific impact of the program: importance of traditional knowledge, positive value of traditional ways of living, history, and personal values. Content analyses showed that all participants (100%) reported that their mental well-being and nature connectedness were improved after participation; 92% of them reported improvement in social connectedness, and 44% reported improvement in self-connectedness. Paired t-tests showed significant improvements in mental well-being from baseline to follow-up: SCS-R from 69.3 to 77.7, INS from 4.8 to 5.5, WEMWBS from 48.7 to 53.7 (all p<0.001), and SCS scores increased from 57.6 to 60.4 (p=0.007). Triangulation of thematic analysis with content analysis indicated 20 different connections between culture-specific design and desired impacts of intervention.
Conclusion: The Shieling Project is an effective green prescription in improving mental well-being and provides a template for culture-specific program design that includes outdoor living, communal living, simplicity, and traditional skills. Culture-specific green prescriptions may serve to address current concerns of equitable access and minimization of reductionistic approaches to green prescriptions. Furthermore, this project contributed innovative approaches to meet the needs for mental healthcare, including the value of short-term immersive programming.
Date
2023-11-30
Citation:
APA:
Stancil, Missy.
(November 2023).
Improving mental well-being through culture-specific outdoor learning: A mixed-methods study
(Doctoral Dissertation, East Carolina University). Retrieved from the Scholarship.
(http://hdl.handle.net/10342/13239.)
MLA:
Stancil, Missy.
Improving mental well-being through culture-specific outdoor learning: A mixed-methods study.
Doctoral Dissertation. East Carolina University,
November 2023. The Scholarship.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/13239.
June 26, 2024.
Chicago:
Stancil, Missy,
“Improving mental well-being through culture-specific outdoor learning: A mixed-methods study”
(Doctoral Dissertation., East Carolina University,
November 2023).
AMA:
Stancil, Missy.
Improving mental well-being through culture-specific outdoor learning: A mixed-methods study
[Doctoral Dissertation]. Greenville, NC: East Carolina University;
November 2023.
Collections
Publisher
East Carolina University