Abstract
Most research exploring the psychological benefits of the natural environment has focused on direct exposure to the outdoors. However, people spend most of their time indoors, particularly in office buildings. Poor employee mental health has become one the most prevalent and costly occupational health issues. The integration of high quality environmental features (e.g., access to sunlight) in green-certified office buildings offers a superior work environment. These nature-based experiences are anticipated to provide beneficial outcomes to wellbeing. This study is the first to empirically investigate these benefits. Participants in a green (LEED gold certified) office building (N = 213) in Canada completed an assessment of environmental features, measures of hedonic, eudaimonic and negative wellbeing (NWB) and assessments of psycho-environmental potential, environmental behaviors and social belonging. Linear regression analyses confirmed the benefits of indoor environmental features for all aspects of wellbeing. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the effect of specific indoor environmental features on wellbeing. We explored physical features (e.g., air quality, light), and social features (e.g., privacy), as well as windows to the outside. Results suggest that physical features are important in promoting hedonic wellbeing, while social features prevent NWB. Both features equally predicted eudaimonic wellbeing (EWB). A view to the outside was positively correlated to wellbeing, although it did not uniquely predict it after accounting for other environmental features. Path analyses revealed the importance of person-environment fit, pro-environmental behavior and social belonging in mediating the association of indoor environmental features with hedonic and EWB. The results suggests that, by fostering person-environment fit, pro-environmental behaviors and feeling of community in a high quality setting, green buildings may lead to benefits on an array of wellbeing dimensions. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Highlights
There is growing recognition that nature-based experiences provide a range of benefits for physical, mental, and social health (Ulrich, 1984; Ohtsuka et al, 1998; Cimprich and Ronis, 2001; Wu and Lanier, 2003; Loeffler, 2004; Wichrowski et al, 2005; Boniface, 2006; Berman et al, 2008; Park et al, 2010; Van Den Berg and Custers, 2011)
Higher satisfaction with social and physical features and with a view outside were related to higher levels of hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing (EWB) and to lower levels of negative wellbeing (NWB)
The present study showed that green building features do not just prevent NWB, as argued by theories such as Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and the psychoevolutionary theory (PET) related to nature-based experiences, and promote the positive aspects of wellbeing, improving the wellbeing of occupants rather than just restoring them to a state of normalcy
Summary
There is growing recognition that nature-based experiences provide a range of benefits for physical, mental, and social health (Ulrich, 1984; Ohtsuka et al, 1998; Cimprich and Ronis, 2001; Wu and Lanier, 2003; Loeffler, 2004; Wichrowski et al, 2005; Boniface, 2006; Berman et al, 2008; Park et al, 2010; Van Den Berg and Custers, 2011). With urbanization and global migration into urban centers (over 50% of the world’s population is living in urban areas), exposure to outdoor green spaces is becoming less frequent in people’s everyday life (Zipperer and Pickett, 2012). This trend has serious implications given that exposure to natural environments has been shown to provide long-term improvements in health and wellbeing (Pearson and Craig, 2014). Rapid urbanization poses a threat to the health of larger natural ecosystems by creating environmental challenges, such as increased pollution, resource depletion, flood risk, elevated temperature and habitat destruction
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