Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomised Trial of Social Prescribing of Forest Therapy for Quality of Life and Biopsychosocial Wellbeing in Community-Living Australian Adults with Mental Illness: Protocol.
Social Prescribing (SP) involves linking individuals with mental illness to local health and welfare services to improve quality of life (QoL) and biopsychosocial wellbeing. SP programs address psychosocial wellbeing by linking individuals to group activities. Forest Therapy (FT) is a group nature walk with prescribed activities that promote mindfulness, relaxation, and shared experience. Improvements in psychological and physical wellbeing have been demonstrated in FT, but psychosocial impacts have not been widely investigated. This study will implement an SP FT intervention and assess the impacts on QoL and biopsychosocial wellbeing. Participants will include 140 community-living adults with mental illness at Sydney/Gold Coast, Australia. A stepped-wedge cluster randomised design will be used; each participant will complete a 10-week control period followed by a 10-week FT intervention. Weekly 90-min FT sessions will be conducted in groups of 6-10 in local nature reserves. Validated tools will measure self-report QoL and biopsychosocial wellbeing pre- and post-control and intervention periods, and 5-week follow-up. Blood pressure and heart rate will be measured pre- and post-FT sessions. Hypothesised outcomes include improvements in QoL and biopsychosocial wellbeing. This study is the first to assess SP FT, and may provide evidence for a novel, scalable mental illness intervention.
['Thomas|Tamsin|T|', 'Baker|James|J|', 'Massey|Debbie|D|', "D'Appio|Daniel|D|", 'Aggar|Christina|C|0000-0002-0137-7796']
D000203:Activities of Daily Living D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D001315:Australia D016000:Cluster Analysis D005260:Female D065928:Forests D006801:Humans D008132:Loneliness D008297:Male D001523:Mental Disorders D064866:Mindfulness D011788:Quality of Life D012064:Relaxation Therapy D012934:Social Isolation D012944:Social Support D012946:Social Welfare
quality of life mindfulness community services loneliness mental disorders nature therapy social isolation social support