The effect of nature exposure on pain experience and quality of life in patients with chronic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

Matthew J Lee, Aishwarya Pradeep, Katie Lobner and Oluwakemi Badaki-Makun

PLOS ONE, 2023, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-7

Abstract: Background: Chronic pain is a complex condition with short and long-term effects on physical and psychosocial health. Nature exposure therapy has been investigated as a potential non-pharmacological intervention to improve physical and emotional health of individuals with chronic pain. This proposed systematic review aims to examine the effects of nature exposure therapy on pain experience and quality of life in patients with chronic pain. Methods: Studies will be identified by searching the MEDLINE, Embase and Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases. All included studies will be required to be interventional controlled trials comparing nature exposure therapy to placebo or standard care in patients with chronic pain. Primary outcomes for this review will be pain intensity and quality of life scores. Secondary outcomes will include self-efficacy, depression and pain-related anxiety scores. If 2 or more studies are included, results will be pooled for meta-analysis. If meta-analysis is not possible, the results will be presented in a narrative form. Discussion: Given the adverse effects of opioid use, non-pharmacological interventions are a necessary alternative to treat patients with chronic pain. Nature exposure therapy is an intriguing example of such an intervention. We hope that this systematic review will guide future clinical decision-making for patients with chronic pain and provide evidence for or against the need for natural spaces and improved urban planning. Trial registration: PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021226949.

Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0291053 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 91053&type=printable (application/pdf)

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:plo:pone00:0291053

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291053

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().