Abstract

MARTINEZ-SOTO, Joel; MONTERO-LOPEZ LENA, María  and  CORDOVA Y VAZQUEZ, Ana. Psychological restoration and urban nature: some mental health implications. Salud Ment [online]. 2014, vol.37, n.3, pp.217-224. ISSN 0185-3325.

Topics relating to mental health promotion systematically lack research that documents the importance of physical environment qualities in the development of public health policies. At the present time, several emerging research lines regarding restorative environments (RE) and psychological restoration (PR) may contribute to the conceptual and operational definition of relevant environmental qualities promoting mental health. PR relates to the recovery of people's cognitive resources and psychophysiological responses when exposed to environments with restorative qualities. The present study documents the application of an ecological social model regarding the impact of urban nature on PR in a housing context. We posed the objective to document possible restoration effects of variables related to Urban Nature-UN (for example, views of nature from housing windows, indoor plants and gardens, proximity to outdoor green areas) and Psychological Transaction Processes with the Environment - PTRAPE (activities in nature and perception of environmental restoration of housing) on emotional and cognitive indicators of PR. To achieve this goal, we carried out a study with 120 individual home interviews (mean age of 45.73 years, 63 men and 57 women) in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. The structural equations model showed that UN has both direct and indirect effects on emotional and cognitive dimension of PR. This theoretical, conceptual, and methodological approach provides a conceptual platform to carry out innovative research with relevant empirical implications for mental health promotion.

Keywords : Restorative environments; public health; stress; environmental perception.

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