Blue care: a systematic review of blue space interventions for health and wellbeing

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the potential use of outdoor water environments, or blue space, in the promotion of human health and wellbeing. However, therapeutic nature-based practices are currently outpacing policy and the evidence base for health or wellbeing benefits of therapeutic interventions within blue space has not been systematically assessed. This systematic review aims to address the gap in understanding the impacts of blue space within existing interventions for targeted individuals. A systematic review was carried out, searching Google Scholar, SCOPUS, PubMed, etc. through to August 2017. Only blue space interventions were included that were specifically designed and structured with a therapeutic purpose for individuals with a defined need and did not include nature-based promotion projects or casual recreation in the outdoors. Thirty-three studies met the inclusion criteria and were assessed. Overall, the studies suggest that blue care can have direct benefit for health, especially mental health and psycho-social wellbeing. The majority of papers found a positive or weak association between blue care and health and wellbeing indicators. There was also some evidence for greater social connectedness during and after interventions, but results were inconsistent and mixed across studies with very few findings for physical health. This is the first systematic review of the literature on blue care. In summary, it has been shown that mental health, especially psycho-social wellbeing, can be improved with investment in blue spaces. Key areas for future research include improving understanding of the mechanisms through which blue care can improve public health promotion.

Overview of “Systematic Reviews” of the Built Environment’s Effects on Mental Health

“…After removing duplicates, 321 were manually screened, and 286 records were excluded for title and abstract. We reviewed the full text of 35 studies, 24 of which were excluded [11,12,14,18,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. Finally, eleven SRs were included in the narrative synthesis ( Figure 1).…”

Moving Toward an Agenda on Ocean Health and Human Health in Europe

“…However, the evidence for a positive association with general health, and reduced obesity, cardiovascular disease, and related outcomes, was less consistent (Gascón et al, 2017). Another review of 33 intervention studies (e.g., that used watersports among at risk communities for health and wellbeing promotion purposes) concluded that carefully structured interactions with the sea/ocean could help both personal and social wellbeing (Britton et al, 2018).…”

Iriss ESSS Outline: Healing environments for children who have experienced trauma

“…Two recent systematic reviews highlight the benefits of blue space in improving mental health, especially wellbeing ( Britton et al 2019 ), and the advantages of access to green space for children, which is associated with improved mental wellbeing, overall health and cognitive development of children ( McCormick 2017 ). In 2017, the Architectural Design journal also 4 published a number of case studies related to the benefits of nature for patients and healthcare professionals.…”