The articles in the database below represent a curated selection from our NHA (full) members and Executive Committee. Rather than being a comprehensive database, like what you would find on a mainstream database, this is a limited and curated list of articles gathered by our member. To be included, these peer-reviewed articles and resources must meet specific criteria, ensuring a foundation of quality. Articles included cover a diverse array of study types—experiments, qualitative research, and meta-analyses—all exploring the intricate relationship between nature and well-being. Priority is accorded to works addressing DEIJ matters or fostering consensus on vital topics. If you would like to submit an article to be featured in the database, please email manager@naturehealthalliance.org.
Authors:Sara LoTemplio, Amy S. McDonnell, Nalini Nadkarni, Carlos Andres Gallegos-Riofrío, Sarah Walker, Emily E. Scott, Joanna E. Bettmann, David Rojas-Rueda, Jamie Dahl, Linda Powers Tomasso, Joshua J. Lawler, Deana Davalos and David L. Strayer |
| Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Volume 10, Issue 2: 247-255
Research suggests that spending time in nature is associated with numerous human behavioral health benefits, including improved executive functioning abilities, enhanced recovery from stressful situations, better mental health, and better educational outcomes.
Authors:Michelle Marvier, Peter Kareiva, Desiree Felix, Brian J. Ferrante and Morgan B. Billington |
| Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) | Volume 120, Number 44 (October 31, 2023): e2304126120
Concern about humanity’s detachment from nature has spawned a global push to increase the availability of green spaces within cities.
Author:Jennifer D. Roberts |
| American Journal of Health Promotion | OnlineFirst: 08901171231210071
The conflict and discord between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois regarding their premise and approach to racial uplift for Black Americans have been very well documented.
Authors:Cat Hartwell, Juliette M. Randazza, Gregory N. Bratman, David P. Eisenman, Blake Ellis, Eli Goodsell, Nicole A. Errett and Chaja Levy |
| PLOS Climate | PLOS Climate: e0000096
A trauma-informed approach to disaster recovery recognizes the potential impacts of trauma, promotes resilience to protect against retraumatization, and can support catering the needs of disaster survivors in affected communities.
Authors:Marnie F. Hazlehurst, Kathleen L. Wolf, Cary Simmons, Carolina Nieto, Mary Kathleen Steiner, Kimberly A. Garrett, Anna V. Faino, Mònica Ubalde López, María López-Toribio and Pooja Tandon |
| International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity | Volume 20 (2023)
The schoolyard environment provides key opportunities to promote physical activity and socioemotional development for children. Schoolyards can also serve as a community park resource outside of school hours.
Authors:Sara LoTemplio, Joanna E. Bettmann, Emily E. Scott and Ellison Blumenthal |
| Current Environmental Health Reports | Volume 10, Issue 3
Given the global burden of mental health issues, new solutions are needed to promote mental health. Nature exposure represents a promising option to promote mental health, but the mechanisms are poorly understood.
Author:Jennifer D. Roberts |
| Journal of Physical Activity and Health | Volume 20, Issue 11: 994-997
Picture a 2-mile-long, 200-foot-wide parkway bordered by rows of Maple and Elm trees with a bridleway down the middle that connects to a 350-acre park northward and a 56-acre park southward.
Authors:Lewis R. Elliott, Tytti Pasanen, Mathew P. White, Benedict W. Wheeler, James Grellier, Marta Cirach, Gregory N. Bratman, Matilda A. van den Bosch, Anne Roiko, Ann Ojala, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen and Lora E. Fleming |
| Environment International | Volume 178 (August 2023): 108077
The role of neighbourhood nature in promoting good health is increasingly recognised in policy and practice, but consistent evidence for the underlying mechanisms is lacking.
Authors:Carly E. Gray, Peter H. Kahn Jr., Joshua J. Lawler, Pooja Tandon, Gregory N. Bratman, Sara P. Perrins, Yian Lin and Frances Boyens |
| Land | Land: Volume 12, Issue 7 (July 2023): 1303
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic rendered daily life overwhelmingly difficult for many children. Given the compelling evidence for the physical and mental health benefits of interaction with nature, might it be the case that time spent interacting with nature buffered the negative effects of the pandemic for children?
Authors:Courtney Suess, Jay E. Maddock, Marco Palma, Omar Youssef and Gerard Kyle |
| Tourism Management | Volume 100: 104797
This study applied a Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) framework and Extended Parallel Process Model to explore respondents’ emotional and behavioral responses to video treatments that messaged varied outcomes for coral reef health and pro-environmental behavioral adaption.
Authors:Tytti Pasanen, Mathew P. White, Lewis R. Elliott, Matilda A. van den Bosch, Gregory N. Bratman, Ann Ojala, Kalevi Korpela and Lora E. Fleming |
| Environmental Research | Volume 232: 116324
Rates of living alone, especially in more urbanised areas, are increasing across many industrialised countries, with associated increases in feelings of loneliness and poorer mental health.
Authors:Devon Jecmen and Sara LoTemplio |
| Ecopsychology | Ahead of Print
The positive effects of natural environments on mental health have been observed and studied for decades. Specifically, psychology research from across the world has suggested that nature can reduce depression symptomology, although there is uncertainty about the mechanisms behind this relationship.
Authors:Jennifer D. Roberts, Shadi Omidvar Tehrani and Gregory N. Bratman |
| Global Culture and Sport Series | Sport and Physical Culture in Global Pandemic Times: 213-240
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed not only the true value of nature and open public spaces, but it reified the presence and persistence of racism in and throughout American institutions.
Authors:Monika M. Derrien, Lee K. Cerveny, Gregory N. Bratman, Chaja Levy, Paulo Frank, Naomi Serio and Dale J. Blahna |
| Society & Natural Resources | Volume 36, Issue 8: 947-969
This article conceptualizes homelessness on public lands within a social-ecological systems framework, exploring dynamics in public natural areas in the Seattle metropolitan area (USA), a system with a compact urban-to-wildland gradient.
Authors:Annalisa Theodorou, Giuseppina Spano, Gregory N. Bratman, Kevin Monneron, Giovanni Sanesi, Giuseppe Carrus, Claudio Imperatori and Angelo Panno |
| Scientific Reports | Scientific Reports: 5028
People who make habitual use of an emotion regulation strategy such as cognitive reappraisal may be more sensitive to the emotion cues coming from a surrounding natural environment and, thus, get more benefits from virtual nature exposure such as enhanced subjective vitality.
Authors:Daniel W. Derbyshire, Olivia Barnett-Naghshineh, Bethany R. Roberts, Riadh Ghemmour, Musarrat Maisha Reza, Morwenna Rogers and Lora E. Fleming |
| Equity in Education & Society | Volume 2, Issue 1
Inequalities within academia – and the research outputs of academic – are a widely acknowledged problem. This results in the reproduction of knowledge gaps within academic praxis.
Authors:Omar Mohamed Makram, Nwabunie Nwana, Juan C. Nicolas, Rakesh Gullapelli, Alan P. Pan, Budhaditya Bose, Tareng Parekh, Sadeer Al-Kindi, Tamer Yahya, Kobina Hagan, Zulqarnain Javed, Kershaw Patel, Garima Sharma, Stephen L. Jones, Miguel Cainzos-Achirica, Jay E. Maddock and Khurram Nasir |
| Current Problems in Cardiology | Volume 48, Issue 6 (June 2023)
This is the first study to investigate the relationship between neighborhood walkability and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in the United States using a large population-based database.
Urban design that is supportive to walking is becoming an important and proven determinant of health, especially cardiovascular health. This study examined the link between walkability and cardiovascular risk factors by studying close to one million patients in an urban setting.
Authors:Annalisa Theodorou, Luciano Romano, Gregory N. Bratman, Giuseppe A. Carbone, Roberta Rodelli, Gianluca Casagrande and Angelo Panno |
| Journal of Environmental Psychology | Volume 87: 101981
The body of evidence supporting the psychological benefits of exposure to virtual nature, such as increased mood and decreased stress, is rapidly growing.
