Counting birds and bees: promoting wellbeing of older people through engagement with nature-based conservation activities
Start date
January 2021End date
December 2022Description
Engaging with nature benefits the health and wellbeing of older people. Nearby nature can increase physical activity. Passive as well as active exposure to nature can support recovery from negative mood and improve cognitive functioning. Some forms of nature-engagement can also contribute to eudaimonic wellbeing by improving social contact and providing a sense of purpose and self-efficacy. However, it is not always clear what works best for who and how, and specific benefits will vary with type of engagement and individual needs and abilities.
We hypothesise that a well-designed citizen science conservation project, tailored to different needs and abilities of older people, can encourage nature-engagement and support health and wellbeing.
Our approach
The project will be carried out at Whiteley Village, a retirement village for people of limited means, housing approximately 500 residents. It is set in 225 acres of natural gardens and woodland. We will work with residents (20) and conservation experts to co-design four tailored interventions (passive vs active and solitary or group based: e.g., watching birds through the window or going on group walks).
A field study (N=80) will quantitatively test the impact of involvement with these interventions (compared to an active control group) on wellbeing (e.g., mood, cognitive functioning, a sense of purpose, physical activity). Additional qualitative analyses will provide in-depth insight into intervention experiences.
This project will examine:
- What motivates and constraints nature engagement among older people
- Whether co-designed nature conservation interventions can increase such engagement
- If and how such interventions can support the health and wellbeing of older people.
The project will contribute to theory development by testing what works, how and for who.
Aims and objectives
The ultimate aim of the project is to develop a set of guidelines for future nature-based interventions that are acceptable, feasible, affordable and effective in promoting nature-engagement and supporting the health and wellbeing of older people.
Funder
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Team
Project lead
Biography
Birgitta Gatersleben is Professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey, where runs the Environmental Psychology Research Group and associated MSc programme. Her research focuses on wellbeing and people-environment interactions, with a particular focus on nature engagement and the link between environmental sustainability and wellbeing. Her work is applied and interdisciplinary.
Birgitta is co-director of ACCESS the ESRC funded UK Environmental Social Science Leadership team. She has led several research project focusing on nature and wellbeing including an ESRC funded project examining nature-engagement and wellbeing during Covid-19 (with Natural England), "Birds and Bees" a project funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust aiming to encourage nature engagement among older people through the co-design of conservation activities, and a UGPN project "Less Netflix, more nature" examining perceptions of green social prescribing. She has worked in many large interdisciplinary research programs focusing on sustainable lifestyles and wellbeing including CUSP (Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity), RESOLVE and Elicit.
Co-investigators

Biography
I completed my BSc in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Liverpool (2004). After this I obtained my PhD from Trinity College Dublin in 2010. My PhD was concerned with exploring the link between depression and inflammation by studying the psychological impact of the Hepatitis C treatment Interferon-alpha. After completing my PhD I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatry at McGill University in Canada (2011-2014) where we examined the link between depression and diabetes. I returned to the UK in 2014 to undertake a lectureship at Brunel University London (2014-2016) prior to joining the School of Psychology at the University of Surrey in 2016.
Whitley Village partners

Alison Benzimra
Foundation Manager at The Whiteley Foundation for Ageing
See profileResearch groups and centres
Our research is supported by research groups and centres of excellence.
Research themes
Find out more about our research at Surrey: