A doctoral dissertation in social pedagogy will be examined in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies. Doctoral defence will be held in Kajaani and it can also be followed online.
What is the topic of your dissertation, and why is it important to study?
In my dissertation, I examine the impacts of nature based practices on clients’ wellbeing and how their use can be further promoted within wellbeing, social, and healthcare services. I also analyse the role of nature-based interventions in advancing societal sustainability goals.
Sustainability crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss highlight the need to redefine approaches to producing well-being. While population-level evidence on the benefits of natural environments exists, less is known about the impacts and practical implementation of nature-based interventions. For societies to undergo a sustainability transition, it is crucial to understand and simultaneously promote the connections between well-being and sustainability.
What are the key findings of your dissertation?
My dissertation shows that integrating nature more strongly into well-being promotion is both justified and feasible. Social and healthcare professionals perceived nature-based interventions as effective and acceptable ways to support clients’ well-being. Support from colleagues and managers promoted the use of nature-based interventions. Barriers included limited resources and insufficient knowledge about the well-being effects of nature and guiding clients into nature.
The studied nature-based interventions produced perceived and measured effects on participants’ well-being. The impacting elements of social pedagogical equine-assisted intervention were the recognition of basic well-being needs, meaningful multispecies interactions, and enhanced experiences of presence and agency. In hospital health forests, professionals identified stress recovery and enhanced mental well-being as the primary benefits for their clients. Salivary cortisol measurements showed that a nature-based intervention delivered in occupational healthcare reduced participants’ stress levels. In addition, a study protocol was developed to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of a ‘nature prescription’ analogous to physical activity counselling.
Nature-based interventions should be recognised as part of national well-being promotion. Shared practices would enable regions, organisations and professionals to implement nature-based interventions more equally. When the significance of nature for holistic human well-being is understood, it can profoundly transform individuals’ and communities’ relationship with nature.
How can the results of your dissertation be applied in practice?
The study examines concrete, practically implemented nature-based interventions. They provide ideas for well-being, social, and healthcare professionals on how nature can be integrated into services. Professionals need sufficient resources and opportunities to improve their expertise. To enable the use of nature-based interventions, local nature areas must be accessible.
Integrating nature-based approaches into well-being referral practices, regional well-being strategies, and the well-being and health indicators used by municipalities could strengthen the role of nature-based interventions as a sustainable form of well-being promotion.
From the perspective of planetary well-being, nature-based interventions not only enhance individual well-being but also contribute to a broader societal sustainability transition, challenging welfare systems to evolve in ways essential for a sustainable future.
What are the main research methods and data sources of your dissertation?
The dissertation consists of four case studies evaluating the effectiveness and implementation of new types of nature-based interventions in well-being, social and healthcare services. The research is grounded in evaluation research. The diverse data includes documents, surveys, interviews, and physiological measures. The research methods are quantitative and qualitative. The mixed methods approach made it possible to study both impact and implementation, as well as to understand nature-based interventions more broadly as part of welfare, social and healthcare service practices.
MSc (Tech) Maija Lipponen’s doctoral dissertation in social pedagogy, titled Nature-based interventions in well-being promotion: Effects and implementation, will be examined in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies. The opponent will be Assistant Professor Teea Kortetmäki from the University of Jyväskylä, and the custos will be Professor Tomi Mäki-Opas from the University of Eastern Finland.
Photograph of the doctoral candidate
For further information, please contact:
Maija Lipponen, maija.lipponen(at)luke.fi, tel. +358 29 532 2024