The DOI matches its Crossref record; 83 of the 83 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Contact with blue-green spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown beneficial for mental health.
Open accessAbstract
There is growing evidence that ecosystem services and especially the exposure to the natural world (blue-green spaces) have potential benefits for mental health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures adopted to control it provide a natural experiment to investigate the links between nature exposure and mental health under extreme conditions. Using a survey distributed online, we tested the following hypotheses: 1) People will show greater symptoms of depression and anxiety under lockdown conditions that did not allow contact with outdoor nature spaces; 2) Where access to public outdoor nature spaces was strictly restricted, (2a) those with green/blue nature view or (2b) access to private outdoor spaces such as a garden or balcony will show fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, and a more positive mood. Based on 5218 responses from 9 countries, we found that lockdown severity significantly affected mental health, while contact with nature helped people to cope with these impacts, especially for those under strict lockdown. People under strict lockdown in Spain (3403 responses), perceived that nature helped them to cope with lockdown measures; and emotions were more positive among individuals with accessible outdoor spaces and blue-green elements in their views. These findings can help decision-makers in developing potential future lockdown measures to mitigate the negative impacts, helping people to be more resilient and maintain better mental health, using the benefits that ecosystem services are providing us.
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“The results support previous findings suggesting that the presence of a balcony or a patio can contribute toward coping better with the lockdown situation (105–107) since private outdoor access (balcony) was associated with lower levels of anxiety during part of the lockdown (second week of the study).”
From The Evolution of Psychological and Behavioral Consequences of Self-Isolation During Lockdown: A Longitudinal Study Across United Kingdom and Italy (2022) · cites this paper as [105]
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Wang, R., Patterson, L., Maguire, A., & Hunter, R. F. (2026) · International Journal of Public Health · doi:10.3389/ijph.2026.1609558
Stefán, F., Antón-González, L., Ciesielski, M., & Taczanowska, K. (2026) · Wellbeing Space and Society · doi:10.1016/j.wss.2026.100481
Liu, Y., Jin, C., Wang, Y., Wang, T., & Wang, B. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-95-5156-9_38
Qiu, Y., Schertzer, D., & Tchiguirinskaia, I. (2026) · Ecological Indicators · doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115767
Metadata
- Authors
- Pouso, S., Borja, Á., Fleming, L. E., Gómez-Baggethun, E., White, M. P., & Uyarra, M. C.
- Affiliations
- AZTI (ES)
- King Abdulaziz University (SA)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Pouso, Sarai
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-02
- Volume
- 756
- Pages
- 143984
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7688424
- OpenAlex
- W3109603669
- Cited by
- 604
- References
- 83
- Citations by year
- 2026: 53 · 2025: 77 · 2024: 122 · 2023: 106 · 2022: 148 · 2021: 97
- FWCI
- 35.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- AZTI Institutional Repository (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Funders
- Horizon 2020
- Hezkuntza, Hizkuntza Politika Eta Kultura Saila, Eusko Jaurlaritza
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Green Space and Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › COVID-19 impact on air quality
- Keywords
- green and blue spaces, nature exposure, mental health, COVID-19 lockdown, depression, anxiety, mood, ecosystem services, coping, resilience, private outdoor space
- MeSH terms
- Parks, Recreational, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Communicable Disease Control, Humans, Mental Health, Spain, Ecosystem, Pandemics
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