Stress-related diseases in Sweden have doubled since 1997. Even longterm sickness related tostress has increased over the last decade. In future there is a need of alternative methods todecrease the amount of people being affected to gain a better population health. Natureassisted therapy (NAT) was shown to be a successful method as part of the therapy of stressand burnout likewise was nature an important factor to prevent people from mentaldisorders. The aim of this study was to analyse the latest research concearning nature and itshealth effects with focus on stress and burnout patients in order to plan health promotingactivities outdoors for these patients. Questions included in the study were what impact natureexperiences have apart from medical and psychotherapeutic methods and how natureexperiences do affect stress and burnout patients. The results show that viewing landscapes,rest activities in boreal environment (especially broad-leaved and pine forest), closeness towater and bright wide surroundings have positive effects on people with stress. There is theevidence that certain nature qualities can serve as resources for recovery from stress. Theycan also reduce the risk for gaining mental health. Nature experience is evoking a relaxingmechanism through the activation of the parasympathetic nerve system. For a longtermeffect affected patients do not only need to be shown meaningful activities outdoors but alsohas nature and outdoor activities to become a part of people’s everyday life.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (Faculty of Education) / Simon Fraser University.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (Faculty of Education) / Simon Fraser University.

La nature a des effets positifs sur la santé (Moore, 1981 ; Ulrich, 1984). Les premiers travaux se sont inspirés de la médecine ancestrale japonaise avec la prescription aux patients de bain de forêt, afin de renforcer leurs défenses immunitaires et leur bien-être (Li, 2010). Par la suite les recherches ont montré qu’une simple exposition visuelle à la nature pouvait produire les même effets (Beukeboom, Langeveld, & Tanja-Dijkstra, 2012). À l’heure actuelle les travaux se basent sur deux grands courants pour expliquer les effets de la nature sur la santé, à savoir la biophilie (Ulrich, 1993 ; Wilson, 1984) et la théorie de la restauration de l’attention (R. Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989 ; S. Kaplan, 1995). Cependant aucun de ces travaux n’a été mené en France. La littérature a montré que certains effets étaient sensibles à la culture du pays (Pascual et al., 2012). Les travaux ont été menés en utilisant uniquement de la nature verte sous temps clément. Huit expérimentations ont été conduites, manipulant différents types d’expositions à la nature, avec différentes scènes de nature. Les résultats montrent que les effets de la nature sont présents en France, sans différenciation du type de nature. Que celle-ci soit verte ou non, par beau temps ou non, en présence d’éléments aquatiques ou sans, nous observons des effets positifs de la nature. Nous montrons également qu’une stimulation olfactive de la nature produit des effets semblables aux stimulations visuelles. Les résultats que nous obtenons semblent être fortement liés à la notion de contrôle perçu (liberté). / Nature has indisputable effects on human health (Moore, 1981; Ulrich, 1984). The very first research works on this topic were inspired by traditional Japanese medicine. Indeed, at that time, “forest baths” were typically prescribed to patients, in order both to strengthen their immune system and to improve their well-being (Li, 2010). Interestingly, subsequent researches have demonstrated that solely a visual exposure to Nature was able to produce the same effects (Beukeboom, Langeveld, & Tanja-Dijkstra, 2012). To explain this impact of Nature on human health, both biophilia (Ulrich, 1993; Wilson, 1984) and the attention restoration theory (R. Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; S. Kaplan, 1995) are the two main trends nowadays used by the scientific community. Nevertheless, none of these experiments were carried out in France, while it is clearly established that country’s culture has a significant influence on this Nature effect (Pascual et al., 2012). Moreover, it is relevant to note that up to now all the researches were only performed under both green Nature exposure and mild weather conditions. With the aim of starting to decipher more precisely the influence of the presence of a Nature component on human health and prosocial behavior, this present thesis describes eight experiments carried out in France, with several kinds of Nature exposures and Nature scenes. Results highlight the positive effects of Nature, whatever its type, i.e. green or not, in mild weather or not, with or without aquatic component, etc. Furthermore, this work brings to light than an olfactory stimulation (i.e. using fragrances of Nature) generates similar effects compared to a visual one. Altogether, the results appear to be closely related to the perceived control (freedom).

Cette thèse examine les représentations des rapports entre l'humain, le monde animal et l'ensemble du monde naturel dans 4 écrits canadiens contemporains (2 en français et 2 en anglais) qui affichent un intérêt marqué pour l'expérience d'une "rencontre" avec la nature. La lecture se concentre sur l'évocation des perceptions du sujet humain parmi la nature, prend en compte les divers aspects "dialogiques" de ces textes, et fait ressortir les différentes modalités ou variations de la représentation des relations entre humain, animal et nature.

Thesis (M. Dev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The rationale for the establishment of nature reserves and protected areas has emphasized community benefits in terms of job and market opportunities, generation of income, facilitation of entrepreneurship and business, and the creation of an enabling local development environment within which locals would acquire the ability to make productive use of available opportunities and to resist the threats associated with poverty, deprivation, social exclusion and inequality. Evidently, the promotion of nature reserves has in recent years seen an unprecedented and, in many ways, uncomfortable convergence of the local economic development and environmentalism. Theoretically, the increasing popularity of nature reserves rests on the assumption that an enabling local economic development environment would be established wherein increased tourism would precipitate economic growth, job-creation and such other qualities which are collectively characterized as local economic development. However, in practice the interface of nature conservation remains scarcely tested. The study used Timbavati Nature Reserve which is adjacent different Villages including among others Timbavati Village to argue that the practice of nature conservation is far from popular pronouncements, captivated by the conjecture of an enabling local economic development environment. For the purpose of this study, a sample of 99 households from Timbavati Village was used to investigate the effects of nature conservation on LED. The findings of the study affirm that nature reserves are inherently preservationist and focus on protection of biodiversity, maintenance of critical ecological processes as well as ecosystem goods and services rather than “pro-poor growth” and “growth-focused” development paradigms. That is, the findings demonstrated that the Timbavati Nature Reserve is not contributing optimally towards LED as expected by the local communities. Although a general judgement could not be made, however, 28.3% of the respondents disagreed that the nature reserve produces desirable effects and 15.1% agreed that the nature reserve have undesirable effects on the village while 86.5% of the respondents were neutral on both effects. Additionally, the dearth of LED activities in the village vi indicated that the Timbavati Village does not get an injection from the nature reserve towards LED. Such findings indicate that the question of community ownership and access to natural resources remains unresolved where abundance of natural capital co-exists with poverty among communities. Thus, lack of integration, coherence, access to resources, local ownership, community participation and equal benefits sharing is apparent in most nature reserves and other protected areas including Timbavati Nature Reserve. Therefore, the study concludes that the Timbavati Nature Reserve is yet to contribute towards local economic development because its practice is devoid of community development principles. / University of Limpopo

It is well established in the research literature that exposure to nature positively affects physical and mental health. However, research regarding the effects of nature exposure on social health is less developed. Prior research found that watching a video of nature improved state social motivation. Building on this research, the current study compared the effects of three methods of virtual nature exposure on state social motivation in a randomized controlled trial. In this 3X3 between-subjects experiment, participants (N = 426) 18 to 73 (MAge = 27.69, SD = 12.19) were randomly assigned to experience 3-minutes of nature exposure (wilderness nature, urban non-nature control, indoor non-nature control) through one of three methods (video, photo, guided imagery) and then completed survey questions related to state social motivation (State Motivation to Foster Social Connections (SMSC), State Positive Affect (SA), State Anxiety (SA)). Three two-way 3 X 3 ANOVAs revealed a statistically significant interaction between type of exposure and method of exposure on PA, F(4, 417) = 4.125, p = .003, partial η2 = .038, and no significant interactions for SMSC or SA. Compared to virtual non-nature controls, results suggest that one aspect of state social motivation, PA, is greater after exposure to a nature photo, but not after exposure to a nature video or nature guided imagery. Nature exposure may have a favorable impact on the creation and maintenance of social ties, according to these findings, and should be investigated further as a social health intervention aimed at enhancing overall health.

No description available.

Teaching students about the nature of science is an important and necessary part of secondary science curricula. The Utah State Office of Education has provided specific guidelines called intended learning outcomes (ILOs) to teachers in the state. The ILOs are based on the national standards presented in the Project 2061 publications of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1990 and 1993. The ILOs are not tied to any one scientific discipline such as biology or chemistry, but are intended as global statements describing what scientists do and how scientific knowledge is gained. ILO 6 prescribes that students be taught about the nature of scientific inquiry and the nature of the resulting knowledge claims. State education officials currently assess knowledge of the ILOs through items which are embedded in content-specific, multiple-choice items. This practice confounds knowledge of the nature of science with the content knowledge from a particular course. This project describes the development of an instrument to assess high school students' knowledge of the nature of science separate from their knowledge of any particular scientific discipline. The resulting questionnaire largely meets its intended goal, but still needs improvement. The current questionnaire has 24 items with an internal consistency reliability estimate of .74. Students participating in the pilot administration may have exhibited some apathy which may have affected the reliability estimate obtained from their responses. Factors such as this may help explain the low internal consistency reliability estimate of this questionnaire and will make the validity of the questionnaire difficult to demonstrate. In spite of this and other shortcomings, the questionnaire may still be useful to secondary science teachers to gain an understanding of their students' knowledge about the nature of science. Based on this knowledge, teachers may be able to design specific instruction to teach students correct knowledge about the nature of science. Since internal consistency reliability estimates are low, the validity of this questionnaire is tenuous. Therefore, caution should be exercised in making judgments about students that would affect measures of academic performance.

No description available.