Health benefits of a view of nature through the window: a quasi-experimental study of patients in a residential rehabilitation center

Abstract

Objective: To examine the health benefits of a bedroom window view to natural surroundings for patients undergoing a residential rehabilitation programme. Design: Longitudinal quasi-experiment. Setting: A residential rehabilitation centre. Subjects: Two-hundred and seventy-eight coronary and pulmonary patients provided data at all measurement points during the programme. Intervention: Blind, quasi-random allocation to a private bedroom with a panoramic view to natural surroundings or with a view either partially or entirely blocked by buildings. Main measures: Self-reported physical and mental health (SF-12), subjective well-being, emotional states, use of the private bedroom and leisure activities. Results: For women, a blocked view appeared to negatively influence change in physical health (time × view × gender interaction, F(4,504) = 2.51, P = 0.04), whereas for men, a blocked view appeared to negatively influence change in mental health (time × view × gender interaction, F(4,504) = 5.67, P < 0.01). Pulmonary patients with a panoramic view showed greater improvement in mental health than coronary patients with such a view (time × view × diagnostic group interaction, F(4,504) = 2.76, P = 0.03). Those with a panoramic view to nature more often chose to stay in their bedroom when they wanted to be alone than those with a blocked view (odds ratio (OR) = 2.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08–5.01). Conclusion: An unobstructed bedroom view to natural surroundings appears to have better supported improvement in self-reported physical and mental health during a residential rehabilitation programme, although the degree of change varied with gender and diagnostic group.