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. 2022 Oct 27;12(1):17589.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-20207-6.

Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment reveals mental health benefits of birdlife

Ryan Hammoud  1 , Stefania Tognin  2 , Lucie Burgess  2 , Nicol Bergou  2 , Michael Smythe  3 , Johanna Gibbons  4 , Neil Davidson  4 , Alia Afifi  2 , Ioannis Bakolis  5   6 , Andrea Mechelli  2
Affiliations

Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment reveals mental health benefits of birdlife

Ryan Hammoud et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The mental health benefits of everyday encounters with birdlife for mental health are poorly understood. Previous studies have typically relied on retrospective questionnaires or artificial set-ups with little ecological validity. In the present study, we used the Urban Mind smartphone application to examine the impact of seeing or hearing birds on self-reported mental wellbeing in real-life contexts. A sample of 1292 participants completed a total of 26,856 ecological momentary assessments between April 2018 and October 2021. Everyday encounters with birdlife were associated with time-lasting improvements in mental wellbeing. These improvements were evident not only in healthy people but also in those with a diagnosis of depression, the most common mental illness across the world. These findings have potential implications for both environmental and wildlife protection and mental healthcare policies. Specific measures, aimed at preserving and increasing everyday encounters with birdlife in urban areas, should be implemented.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Screenshots of the Urban Mind app interface.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time-lagged associations of momentary mental wellbeing scores in relation to seeing or hearing birds. Associations are shown unadjusted and adjusted for age, gender, education, occupational status, ethnicity, whether participants could see trees, plants, and see or hear water, and with the implementation of the MICE procedure. The vertical axis represents the mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of mental wellbeing score when seeing or hearing birds. The horizontal axis represents the assessments lagged from 0 to 2. L0 indicates the impact of seeing or hearing birds on mental wellbeing at the time of the assessment. L1 indicates the impact of seeing or hearing birds on mental wellbeing during the subsequent assessment. L2 indicates the impact of seeing or hearing birds on mental wellbeing in the second subsequent assessment.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Associations of momentary mental wellbeing scores in relation to seeing or hearing birds in participants with no diagnosis of mental health condition and those with a diagnosis of depression. Associations are shown unadjusted and adjusted for age, gender, education, occupational status, ethnicity, whether participants could see trees, plants, and see or hear water. The vertical axis represents the mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of mental wellbeing score when seeing or hearing birds. The horizontal axis represents the assessments lagged from 0 to 2. L0 indicates the impact of seeing or hearing birds on mental wellbeing at the time of the assessment. L1 indicates the impact of seeing or hearing birds on mental wellbeing during the subsequent assessment. L2 indicates the impact of seeing or hearing birds on mental wellbeing in the second subsequent assessment.
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References

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