RESTORATION AND STRESS MITIGATION HENRY OJOBO (PB113096) PhD - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

HENRY OJOBO

(PB113096) PhD Candidate

Supervisors

• Dr. Sapura Mohamad
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ismail Said

Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia

9th December 2015

PSYCHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE ENVIRONMENT AS STIMULUS FOR DIRECTED ATTENTION RESTORATION AND STRESS MITIGATION

 INTRODUCTION

 Directed attention phenomenon plays a major role in human capacity and its restoration is dependent upon the components of the environment. Kaplan (1995)  mental stress results from interactions between persons and their environment that are perceived as straining or exceeding their adaptive capacities and threatening their well being (Annerstedt et

• al. 2010).

 Healthcare management cardiovascular diseases, anxiety disorders, obesity and depression (Lee and Oh, 2010; Probst, 2013)  landscape studies urbanization, lifestyle changes, ameliorating potentials of nature related environments (Hartig et al., 2014) 2

Components of a restorative environment include:  Being away - different from everyday environments  Extent – Possess Enough scope and organization  Fascination – Evokes effortless attention  Compatibility- A purpose fit component

• NATURE RELATED

ENVIRONMENTS like forests, wilderness and mountains are considered to possess significantly the possibility of enhancing restoration from stress through passive and active contact.

 INTRODUCTION

Kaplan, 1995

• MODERN DAY environments are only created to

suite everyday living and working which offer less restorative health benefits (Thompson, 2010), 3

 WHY WE NEED THIS STUDY!

• Quasi (confined or laboratory) environments: participants viewing through a window
• r viewing nature scenes through video, picture slides and simulations.

RESEARCH MILIEU

QUASI/LABORATORY

White (2013), Berto et al (2010), Han, K.

• T. (2010), Van den Berg et al. (2010),

Chang et al.(2008), Berto, (2007), Han, K.

• T. (2007), Hartig & Staats (2006), Berto,
• R. (2005), Staats & Hartig (2004), De

Vries et al. (2003), Herzog et al. (2003), Laumann et al. (2003), Staats et al. (2003), Herzog et al. (2002), Laumann et

• al. (2001), Purcell et al. (2001), Herzog et
• al. (1997), Ulrich et al. (1991), Ulrich, R.
• S. (1981) Ulrich, R. S. (1979)

REAL SITE

Tsunetsugu et al. (2013), Martens et al. (2011), Annerstedt et al. (2010), Cole & Hall (2010), Hartig et al. (2003), Tennessen & Cimprich (1995)

MIX MILIEU

Berman et al. (2008), Kaplan,

• R. (2001),

Hartig, T. et al. (1997)

• Real-site nature related environments: largely done in forests while mountain

environments have merely been mentioned as part of picture slides or video simulations.

• psychometric self report measures: to determine the magnitude of psychological

human response to environmental stimuli. Very few combined both psychological and physiological measures.

• Assessment of nature and human wellbeing relationships: a synergetic approach of the

mix of real site and psycho-physiological mode of measurement. No study was found on the restorative benefits of contact with mountain landscape environment. 4

AIM

To examine the mechanism and intricacies of the link between restorative environments, human response and wellbeing in a mountain landscape environment.

RQ2

What degree would the mountain landscape environment influence recovery from directed attention and stress?

OBJECTIVE 2

To investigate the magnitude to which mountain environments can stimulate human psychological and physiological well-being

RQ1

What feature of the mountain environment yield higher restorative benefits in terms of psychological wellbeing?

OBJECTIVE 1

To identify the feature(s)

• f the mountain

landscape environment potentially influential to human perception and psychological response

RQ3

What aspects of the ambient mountain environment conditions combine to elicit human physiological wellbeing?

OBJECTIVE 3

To determine the significance of the ambient mountain environment conditions

• n human physiological

wellbeing. 5

 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

STRESS RECOVERY THEORY SRT

An encounter with most unthreatening natural environment by stressed individuals would yield restorative benefits while many urban environment will mitigate recovery (Ulrich et al. 1991). Its focus is mainly on the psychological and physiological stress reduction benefits

• f contact with natural environments.

ATTENTION RESTORATION THEORY ART

Natural environments play an essential role in human functioning through the process of restorative experience (Kaplan, 1992). The theory focuses on:

• four conceptual components of a restorative

environment and

• Environmental configurations that are

likely to contribute to restorative experience AESTHETIC-AFFECTIVE THEORY AAT Visual contact with most natural settings by a stressed individual is likely to foster positive feelings, hold interest and mitigate stressful thoughts resulting in recuperation. Related to visual perceptions of natural environments. Ulrich (1986) 6

 RESEARCH APPROACH AND PARADIGM

• A cause and effect strategy comparing contact with the urban environment

and mountain landscape environment

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 WHERE?

Hardscape Heavy traffic Commercial activities Population density Waterfall River Forest reserve Long vista Undulating landscape

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Variables RO1

PREFERENCE River, Forest, Built, Waterfall, Mountain vantage point, Artificial water park PERCEPTION Calmness, Stress relief, Excitement, Anxiousness

 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY?

AMBIENT CONDITIONS Temperature Humidity

Variables RO3

PSYCHOLOGICAL Perceived stress Perceived Restorativeness PHYSIOLOGICAL Blood pressure, Pulse Rate and Respiratory Rate

Variables RO2

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 PROCEDURE

PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURES Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) Cohen et al. (1983). Perceived restorativeness scale (PRS) Hartig et al. (1997) PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES Standard Mercury Sphygmomanometer, Clock AMBIENT ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS Data Logger PREFERENCE AND PERCEPTION Photo questionnaire

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 FINDINGS

RO1

• cultural bias due to familiarity of the individuals

with the structured features and not innate human characteristics is responsible for their preference.

• Perception of the restorative potential of the

mountain landscape environment varies across age groups 11

12.4 16.5 2.6 7.1 4.7 21.8 20.6 8.2 10.2 10.9 24.4 27.8 11.2 11.7 5.7 28.5 24.7 40.3 39.3 20.2 13 10.3 37.8 31.6 58.5

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 River feature Forest feature Water fall feature mountain vantage point Water park Participants response % Obudu mountain attributes Not prefered Slightly prefered Neutral Prefered Highly prefered

RO2

• Being away and compatibility explains restorativeness and stress

mitigation leading to wellbeing with regards to mountain landscape environments.

• feeling of fascination and extents in the mountain landscape environment

does not indicate restoration from stress.

• Interest, pleasantness and tranquillity were found to be additional

components of restorative environment.

• Systolic blood pressure increased while diastolic blood pressure and

pulse rate decreased both in individuals and across age groups.

• respiratory rate did not indicate any tangible differences both in

individuals and across the age groups.

• female respiratory rate increased at the mountain landscape environment

slightly while male respiratory rate decreased.

• experiential contact with the mountain landscape environment influenced

individual’s ability to attain a relaxed state through the reduction of their diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate.

 FINDINGS cont’d

100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 20-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 Systolic blood pressure(mmhHg) Age group of respondents Urban Mountain 20 40 60 80 100 20-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 Diastolic blood pressure(mmHg) Age group of respondents Urban Mountain 5 10 15 20 25 male female Respiratory rate (c/m) Gender Urban environment Mountain environment

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RO3

• Temperature and humidity are aspects of the mountain landscape

environment conditions that combine to influence human physiological wellbeing.

• This was found to have influenced the increase in systolic blood pressure but

decrease in both diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate.

• Being away component of the mountain landscape environment includes a

combined psychological and physiological feeling. SEEN AND UNSEEN

Ambient condition Environment Mean Std. Deviation t

• Sig. (2-

tailed) Temperature Urban 30.5536 4.22536 21.313 .000 Mountain 21.8662 2.26017 Humidity Urban 44.9367 20.10641

• 11.815

.000 Mountain 75.0163 10.47910

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 THEORETICAL IMPLICATION

 study affirms the aspect of the AAT which asserts that visual contact with natural environments would enhance positive feelings, arouse interest and alleviate stress leading to restoration of wellbeing.  ART-The outcome of this study supports being away and compatibility phenomenon as components of a restorative mountain landscape environment but did not support fascination and extent.  This study supports the general aspect of SRT which advocates that contact with particular natural environments stimulates physiological makeup resulting in stress reduction. The second aspect linking stress recovery in natural landscape environments to human innate configuration found no support in this study.

AAT ART SRT

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 CONCLUSION AND CONTRIBUTION

 natural environments are typically distinct from the everyday urban environments in terms of health benefits.  contact with mountain landscape environments promotes recovery from stress and restoration of directed attention.  Empirical evidence of the psycho-physiological benefits of mountain landscape environments.  The scope of environments: landscape types and restorative benefits.  The link between nature experience and human wellbeing: samples from Nigeria in Africa region. 15

 LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 Monitoring the long term changes of physiological outcomes which will provide important data on the effect of contact with mountain landscape environment on chronic stress.  Patients with historical stress challenges, the elderly and children.  Ambulatory measurements of physiological indices: variations influenced by fluctuations in blood pressure and ambient environment conditions.  Recruiting females: menstrual status should be included as a variable. 16

 PUBLICATIONS

INDEXED JOURNALS

1.Henry O., Sapura M. & Ismail S. (2014). Validating the Measures of Perceived

Restorativeness in Obudu Mountain Resort, Cross River State, Nigeria. Open journal of Social Sciences. 2(11), 1-6.

2.Henry O., Sapura M. & Ismail S. (2015). Gender Variations in Wellbeing Indicators

between Urban and Mountain Landscape Environments. Environment and Natural Resources Research. 5(4), 63-71.

• 3. Henry O., Ismail S., Sapura M., Aldrin A. & Norsidah U. (2015). Perceived

Restorative Benefits of Obudu Mountain Landscape, Nigeria. Jurnal Teknologi. 77(15), 103-108. ARTICLES UNDER REVIEW

1.

Physiological and psychological effects of mountain landscape environment on human wellbeing (LANDSCAPE ONLINE JOURNAL) 17

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

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