Assessing the impact of blue and green spaces on mental health of disabled children: A scoping review

Koorosh Aghabozorgi*, Alexander van der Jagt, Simon Bell, Caroline Brown

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
63 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

During recent decades, there has been a growing consideration of the role of blue and green spaces on mental health of children, but there is insufficient attention in the literature to the mental health of children with disabilities. This paper presents an overview of the evidence on how blue and green spaces affect the mental health of children with various disabilities. A database search found twenty studies eligible for the review, after several consecutive screening stages. Most studies used a cross-sectional design and were carried out in Europe. The results consistently indicate that blue and green space can reduce emotional, behavioral, and social problems in disabled children. A protective association was found between the level of blue or greenness and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, in most of the studies there were no significant changes in the result after adjusting for socioeconomic confounders. Generally, there is an identified need for more short-term exposure studies in this area, focusing on the impact of landscape design elements on mental health of disabled children. The findings of this scoping review call on urban planners, health care workers and decision makers to consider appropriate measures and interventions providing more blue and green space exposure to disabled children.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103141
JournalHealth and Place
Volume84
Early online date9 Nov 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2023

Keywords

  • Blue and green space
  • Disabled children
  • Mental health
  • Scoping review

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

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