Using Nature-Based Rehabilitation to Restart a Stalled Process of Rehabilitation in Individuals with Stress-Related Mental Illness

Eva Sahlin, Gunnar Ahlborg, Artur Tenenbaum and Patrik Grahn
Additional contact information
Eva Sahlin: Department of Work Science, Business Economics and Environmental Psychology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 88, Alnarp S-230 53, Sweden
Gunnar Ahlborg: Institute of Stress Medicine, Sweden and Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Region Västra Götaland, Carl Skottbergs Gata 22B, Göteborg SE-413 19, Sweden
Artur Tenenbaum: Arbetslivet, Region Västra Götaland, Skaraborgs Sjukhus Skövde, Skövde SE- 541 85, Sweden
Patrik Grahn: Department of Work Science, Business Economics and Environmental Psychology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 88, Alnarp S-230 53, Sweden

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-24

Abstract: After a period of decrease, sick leave in Sweden due to psychiatric diagnoses is on the increase. The lack of established rehabilitation programmes for patients with stress-related mental disorders (SRMD) has opened up for the use of garden/nature in a multimodal rehabilitation context (Nature-Based Rehabilitation, NBR). Region Västra Götaland (VGR) started an NBR to offer additional rehabilitation for its employees on long-term sick leave due to SRMD, where initial care had not been sufficient. The aim was to explore whether the mental health and well-being of NBR participants had improved at the end of the NBR and at three follow-ups, and to explore the development of sick leave and health care utilization according to the NBR model ( n = 57) and an occupational health service (OHS) model ( n = 45). Self-assessment instruments for measuring burnout, depression, anxiety and wellbeing, and data from regional and national registers were used. Results showed decreased scores on burnout, depression and anxiety, and increased well-being scores and significantly reduced health care utilization in the NBR group. A large movement from ordinary sickness benefit to rehabilitation benefit was observed, which was not observed in the OHS group. The two groups were in different rehabilitation phases, which limited comparisons. The results point to beneficial effects of using NBR for this patient group and for enhancing a stalled rehabilitation process.

Keywords: Nature-Based Rehabilitation; burnout; depression; anxiety; health care utilization; sick leave (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/2/1928/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/2/1928/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:2:p:1928-1951:d:45669

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().