Three Good Things in Nature: A Nature-Based Positive Psychological Intervention to Improve Mood and Well-Being for Depression and Anxiety

Purpose: Visiting and connecting with nature through psychological interventions improves well-being within the general population. However, few such interventions have been conducted in clinically relevant populations. Design: An experimental design utilising a noticing Three Good Things in Nature (TGTiN) task during a nature based or urban (control) walk was conducted with nature connectedness, well-being, positive and negative affect measured at baseline, post and six-week follow-up. Individuals living with depression and/or anxiety (n = 50; 39 having a diagnosis) were randomly allocated to 30 minutes walking in nature or urban environments for five consecutive days. Findings: An ANCOVA, with age as co-variate, showed a significant effect of time by condition on all variables: nature connectedness ηp2= .34; positive affect ηp2= .42; negative affect ηp2= .66; well-being ηp2= .29. Post-hoc tests indicated a significant increase in nature connectedness and positive affect in the nature versus an urban walk at post and follow-up. Negative affect decreased in the nature walk at post intervention while well-being was significantly greater in the nature walk at follow-up. Originality: The TGTiN intervention effectively improves positive affect, and well-being in clinically relevant populations, although replication with a larger sample is warranted.