Office window views: View features trump nature in predicting employee well-being

Esch, Emmy van; Minjock, Robert; Colarelli, Stephen M; Hirsch, Steven R.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.05.006

Cited by 58 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Relatedly, we collected no data on the specific green view features (e.g., coherence, complexity), which may be more important predictors of well-being than the overall amount of green in the view ( van Esch et al, 2019 ; Lavdas and Schirpke, 2020 ). Likewise, we only considered the number of indoor plants rather than multisensory modalities, which regulate people's preferences ( Qin et al, 2014 ), their potential to induce relaxation ( Choi et al, 2016 ), and other myriad effects that may relate to their mental health benefits, such as climate control and indoor air pollutants ( Armijos Moya et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does greenery experienced indoors and outdoors provide an escape and support mental health during the COVID-19 quarantine?

Dzhambov

Lercher

Browning

et al. 2021

Environmental Research

205

135

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed people's ability to recreate in public green spaces, which is likely to exacerbate the psychological impacts of the pandemic. In the current study, we seek to understand whether greenery can support mental health even with insufficient outdoor exposure in times of physical isolation from the outdoor environment. Methods Between 17 May and 10 June, 2020, we conducted an online survey among 323 students (21.99 ± 3.10 years; 31% male) in health-related programs from two universities in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Severities of depressive and anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale. We employed two self-reported measures of greenery experienced indoors (number of houseplants in the home and proportion of exterior greenery visible from inside the home) and two measures of greenery experienced outdoors (presence/absence of a domestic garden and availability of neighborhood greenery). Restorative quality of the home (the “being away” dimension of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale; PRS) and the neighborhood (the “being away” and “fascination” dimensions of the PRS), engagement with outdoor greenery (frequency of different types of interaction) and perceived social support were treated as mediators. Associations between greenery and mental health were tested using generalized linear regression and logistic regression. Structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques were used to test the theoretically-indicated relations among the variables. Results Clinically-meaningful symptoms of moderate depression and anxiety were reported by approximately 33% and 20% of the students, respectively. The relative abundance of greenery visible from the home or in the neighborhood was associated with reduced depressive/anxiety symptoms and lower depression/anxiety rates. Having more houseplants or a garden was also associated with some of these markers of mental health. As hypothesized, the mental health-supportive effects of indoor greenery were largely explained by increased feelings of being away while at home. Neighborhood greenery contributed to neighborhood restorative quality, which in turn facilitated social support and more frequent engagement with greenery, and that led to better mental health. Conclusions Students who spent most of their time at home during the COVID-19 epidemic experienced better mental health when exposed to more greenery. Our findings support the idea that exposure to greenery may be a valuable resource during social isolation in the home. However, causal interpretation of these associations is not straightforward.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does greenery experienced indoors and outdoors provide an escape and support mental health during the COVID-19 quarantine?

Dzhambov

Lercher

Browning

et al. 2021

Environmental Research

205

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The presence, distribution and diversity of natural features in the environment, whether of a virtual or authentic nature, have to be considered [95,96]. Features of nature that potentially influence mental health include the size of the environment (total area), its composition (proportions of different types of natural elements) and spatial configuration (e.g., degrees of fragmentation and connectivity with other green spaces) [95,96]. Other relevant natural attributes may include the tree canopy density, vegetation structure, species composition or biodiversity across a range of different settings or typologies.…”

Section: Natural Typologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enable, Reconnect and Augment: A New ERA of Virtual Nature Research and Application

Litleskare

MacIntyre

Calogiuri

2020

IJERPH

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Being exposed to natural environments is associated with improved health and well-being, as these environments are believed to promote feelings of "being away" from everyday struggles, positive emotional reactions and stress reduction. Despite these positive effects, humanity is becoming increasingly more distanced from nature due to societal changes, such as increased urbanization and the reduced accessibility of natural environments. Technology is also partly to blame, as research suggests that people replace nature contact with increased screen time. In this cross-section between nature and technology, we find technological nature which is progressing towards a point where we may be capable of simulating exposure to real nature. Concerns have been raised regarding this technology, as it is feared it will replace real nature. However, research suggests that virtual nature may have a more positive impact on society than a mere replacement of real nature, and this review propose several areas where virtual nature may be a beneficial addition to actual nature (Enable), help people reconnect with the real natural world (Reconnect) and "boost" human-nature interactions (Augment). Based on the current research and theoretical framework, this review proposes guidelines for future research within these areas, with the aim of advancing the field by producing high quality research.

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“…The study has shown that behaviour and structure influenced significantly on productivity. Van Esch et al [18] have included gender, age, seasonality of mood for modifying a model related to psychological and physical discomfort.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Privacy Vs. Daylight: Evaluating the Acceptance of Daylighting Traditional Devices in Contemporary Residential Houses in Bahrain

ALJAWDER¹,

El-Wakeel²

2020

IJSDP

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The needs and satisfaction of inhabitants with respect to daylight in Bahraini architecture is not well-established, where cultural norms significantly influence different aspects such as room division and door location. Limited consideration has been given to the needs and satisfaction of residents with respect to daylight in Bahraini architecture, where different aspects including room division and door location are influenced by cultural norms. Therefore, the study aims to assess the importance of visual privacy and daylight in the home through a survey questionnaire administered in Bahrain. The survey aimed to measure the trade-off between visual privacy and daylight at home and to explore current and traditional methods used to achieve visual privacy. Results give a clear indication of the contradictory relationship between the needed visual privacy and the desire for daylight in the space. Cultural and personal preferences are dominated by religious context. More than 95% of respondents considered visual privacy to be important; whereas, 92.07% of people considered daylight important. Moreover, 30.29% of people gave priority to the need for visual privacy over the need for daylight in the space. The visual and aesthetic aspects were clearly considered to be important factors for people.

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Office window views: View features trump nature in predicting employee well-being

Cited by 58 publications

References 42 publications

Does greenery experienced indoors and outdoors provide an escape and support mental health during the COVID-19 quarantine?

Does greenery experienced indoors and outdoors provide an escape and support mental health during the COVID-19 quarantine?

Enable, Reconnect and Augment: A New ERA of Virtual Nature Research and Application

Privacy Vs. Daylight: Evaluating the Acceptance of Daylighting Traditional Devices in Contemporary Residential Houses in Bahrain

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