Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver.
<h4>Background</h4>The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted both physical and mental health. This study aimed to understand whether exposure to green space buffered against stress and distress during the COVID-19 pandemic while taking into account significant stressors of the pandemic.<h4&g...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263779&type=printable |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849705349312937984 |
|---|---|
| author | Colleen E Reid Emma S Rieves Kate Carlson |
| author_facet | Colleen E Reid Emma S Rieves Kate Carlson |
| author_sort | Colleen E Reid |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted both physical and mental health. This study aimed to understand whether exposure to green space buffered against stress and distress during the COVID-19 pandemic while taking into account significant stressors of the pandemic.<h4>Methods</h4>We leveraged a cross-sectional survey on green space exposure and mental health among residents of Denver, CO that ran from November 2019 through January 2021. We measured objective green space as the average NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) from aerial imagery within 300m and 500m of the participant's residence. Perceived green space was measured through Likert scores on five questions about vegetation near the home that captured perceived abundance, visibility, access, usage, and quality of green space. We used generalized linear models to assess the relationship between each green space exposure variable and perceived stress (PSS-4), depression (CES-D-10), or anxiety (MMPI-2) adjusted for sociodemographic and COVID-19 impact variables.<h4>Results</h4>We found significantly higher depression scores for all covid periods compared to the "before covid" period, and significantly higher anxiety scores during the "fall wave" compared to earlier periods. Adjusted for sociodemographic and pandemic stressors, we found that spending a lot of time in green space (usage) was significantly associated with lower anxiety and depression. We also observed significantly lower depression scores associated with NDVI in both buffers (objective abundance) and significantly lower anxiety scores with perceived abundance of green space. There was some evidence of lower anxiety scores for people reporting having high quality green spaces near the home (quality). We did not observe significant associations for any green space metric and perceived stress after adjustment for confounding variables.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Our work provides further evidence of mental health benefits associated with green space exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic even after adjustment for sociodemographic variables and significant pandemic-related stressors. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ade0cf0f85dd4300ae52059d70d7f648 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-ade0cf0f85dd4300ae52059d70d7f6482025-08-20T03:16:29ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01173e026377910.1371/journal.pone.0263779Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver.Colleen E ReidEmma S RievesKate Carlson<h4>Background</h4>The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted both physical and mental health. This study aimed to understand whether exposure to green space buffered against stress and distress during the COVID-19 pandemic while taking into account significant stressors of the pandemic.<h4>Methods</h4>We leveraged a cross-sectional survey on green space exposure and mental health among residents of Denver, CO that ran from November 2019 through January 2021. We measured objective green space as the average NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) from aerial imagery within 300m and 500m of the participant's residence. Perceived green space was measured through Likert scores on five questions about vegetation near the home that captured perceived abundance, visibility, access, usage, and quality of green space. We used generalized linear models to assess the relationship between each green space exposure variable and perceived stress (PSS-4), depression (CES-D-10), or anxiety (MMPI-2) adjusted for sociodemographic and COVID-19 impact variables.<h4>Results</h4>We found significantly higher depression scores for all covid periods compared to the "before covid" period, and significantly higher anxiety scores during the "fall wave" compared to earlier periods. Adjusted for sociodemographic and pandemic stressors, we found that spending a lot of time in green space (usage) was significantly associated with lower anxiety and depression. We also observed significantly lower depression scores associated with NDVI in both buffers (objective abundance) and significantly lower anxiety scores with perceived abundance of green space. There was some evidence of lower anxiety scores for people reporting having high quality green spaces near the home (quality). We did not observe significant associations for any green space metric and perceived stress after adjustment for confounding variables.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Our work provides further evidence of mental health benefits associated with green space exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic even after adjustment for sociodemographic variables and significant pandemic-related stressors.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263779&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Colleen E Reid Emma S Rieves Kate Carlson Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver. PLoS ONE |
| title | Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver. |
| title_full | Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver. |
| title_fullStr | Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver. |
| title_short | Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver. |
| title_sort | perceptions of green space usage abundance and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the covid 19 pandemic among residents of denver |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263779&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT colleenereid perceptionsofgreenspaceusageabundanceandqualityofgreenspacewereassociatedwithbettermentalhealthduringthecovid19pandemicamongresidentsofdenver AT emmasrieves perceptionsofgreenspaceusageabundanceandqualityofgreenspacewereassociatedwithbettermentalhealthduringthecovid19pandemicamongresidentsofdenver AT katecarlson perceptionsofgreenspaceusageabundanceandqualityofgreenspacewereassociatedwithbettermentalhealthduringthecovid19pandemicamongresidentsofdenver |