Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during COVID-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Values

Federica Zabini, Lorenzo Albanese, Francesco Riccardo Becheri, Gioele Gavazzi, Fiorenza Giganti, Fabio Giovanelli, Giorgio Gronchi, Andrea Guazzini, Marco Laurino, Qing Li, Tessa Marzi, Francesca Mastorci, Francesco Meneguzzo, Stefania Righi and Maria Pia Viggiano
Additional contact information
Federica Zabini: Institute for Bioeconomy, National Research Council, 10 Via Madonna del Piano, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Lorenzo Albanese: Institute for Bioeconomy, National Research Council, 10 Via Madonna del Piano, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Francesco Riccardo Becheri: Pian dei Termini Forest Therapy Station, 2311 Via Pratorsi, I-51028 San Marcello Piteglio, Italy
Gioele Gavazzi: Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, I-50135 Firenze, Italy
Fiorenza Giganti: Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, I-50135 Firenze, Italy
Fabio Giovanelli: Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, I-50135 Firenze, Italy
Giorgio Gronchi: Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, I-50135 Firenze, Italy
Andrea Guazzini: Department of Education, Languages, Intercultural Studies, Literatures, and Psychology (FORLILPSI), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, I-50135 Firenze, Italy
Marco Laurino: Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, 1 Via Giuseppe Moruzzi, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
Qing Li: Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine—Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan
Tessa Marzi: Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, I-50135 Firenze, Italy
Francesca Mastorci: Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, 1 Via Giuseppe Moruzzi, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
Francesco Meneguzzo: Institute for Bioeconomy, National Research Council, 10 Via Madonna del Piano, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Stefania Righi: Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, I-50135 Firenze, Italy
Maria Pia Viggiano: Section of Psychology—Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child’s Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, 12 Via di San Salvi, I-50135 Firenze, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-13

Abstract: The prolonged lockdown imposed to contain the COrona VIrus Disease 19 COVID-19 pandemic prevented many people from direct contact with nature and greenspaces, raising alarms for a possible worsening of mental health. This study investigated the effectiveness of a simple and affordable remedy for improving psychological well-being, based on audio-visual stimuli brought by a short computer video showing forest environments, with an urban video as a control. Randomly selected participants were assigned the forest or urban video, to look at and listen to early in the morning, and questionnaires to fill out. In particular, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Form Y collected in baseline condition and at the end of the study and the Part II of the Sheehan Patient Rated Anxiety Scale (SPRAS) collected every day immediately before and after watching the video. The virtual exposure to forest environments showed effective to reduce perceived anxiety levels in people forced by lockdown in limited spaces and environmental deprivation. Although significant, the effects were observed only in the short term, highlighting the limitation of the virtual experiences. The reported effects might also represent a benchmark to disentangle the determinants of health effects due to real forest experiences, for example, the inhalation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC).

Keywords: anxiety; audio-visual stimulation; COVID-19; environmental enrichment; forest environments; forest therapy; lockdown; mental health; stress; quarantine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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