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Substance use disorder (SUD) afflicts a large percentage of the United States population, with negative implications that cost more than $420 billion annually. This population often experiences negative emotions throughout the recovery process, including anxiety, depression, stress, and negative affect. Currently, evidence-based treatment strategies for SUD include cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, 12-step programs, and mindfulness-based treatment. One intervention that has not been studied at length among individuals with SUD is use of the natural environment as treatment. Among other patient populations, nature has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety by regulating autonomic nervous system function, reducing symptoms of depression, and improving mood. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether viewing nature videos could similarly reduce stress and improve mood in individuals with SUD. A crossover design was used to compare viewing a nature scene and practicing mindfulness-based activities for women with SUD at a residential treatment facility. Over four weeks, participants engaged in the two activities for the first 10 minutes of their daily program. Immediately before and after each 10 minute session, measures were taken for heart rate, in beats per minute (BPM); affect, using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS); and overall mood, using a 10-point rating scale from “very unpleasant” to “pleasant.” Thirty-six women completed the study. For viewing a nature scene and practicing the mindfulness-based activities, there were statistically significant reductions in mean negative affect scores (p=0.001) and heart rate (p≤0.001). In addition, for participants in both conditions, overall mood improved significantly (p=0.030). The results from this study provide initial evidence that viewing nature has similar benefits to MBT in the treatment of stress and negative mood associated with the SUD recovery process and may be an additional, cost-effective treatment strategy for individuals with SUD.

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Background: Consistent with the American Occupational Therapy Association's Vision 2025, interprofessional partnerships between occupational therapy and designers is necessary to "maximize health, well-being, and quality of life for all people. .. through effective solutions that facilitate participation in everyday living" (2016, para 1). Occupational therapy's knowledge of the personenvironment-occupation fit appears to make us well suited to collaborate with design teams to create environments that facilitate optimal function and promote health and well-being (Ainsworth & de Jonge, 2014). Method: Two short closed-ended online questionnaires were designed to gain an understanding of designer and occupational therapy practitioner impressions of interprofessional collaborations between occupational therapy practitioners and designers. Results: Domestically and internationally, 224 occupational therapy practitioners and 127 designers completed the questionnaires. The results indicate current barriers to collaboration among occupational therapy practitioners and designers are due to different professional languages, a lack of opportunity to interface, and designers not fully grasping the scope of occupational therapy as well as its value, which was found to be statistically significant. Conclusions: Productive daily living is incumbent upon a person supported by his or her environment using products to complete daily tasks that facilitate participation. Evidence-based research is needed to demonstrate the distinct value of occupational therapy on design teams.