Beyond Greenspace: linking ecological, socioeconomic and health data to deepen our understanding of relationships between nature, health and wellbeing

人们越来越有兴趣了解自然环境如何支持良好的健康和福祉。研究人员调查了自然空间对健康行为、身心健康以及社会经济健康不平等的影响。一般来说，正相关关系被证明，并提出了一些解释正效应的理论。这包括为体育活动提供地点和动力，以及从日常生活压力中“恢复”的机会。然而，证据是混杂的，有时甚至是矛盾的。造成这种差异的一个原因可能与自然环境或“绿色空间”的粗略定义有关。研究人员经常将所有自然区域放在一起考虑，而不考虑其类型、种类或质量。自然区域，无论是城市还是农村，实际上包含了广泛的环境特征，这些特征可能对人们的行为、健康和福祉产生不同的影响。在对现有研究的几项系统综述中，人们强调了缺乏对自然对人类健康和福祉影响的细致考虑，这是证据中的一个空白。该项目的目的是通过解决以下问题来提高我们对自然环境与健康之间关系的理解：不同类型和质量的自然环境是否与人类健康和福祉有不同的关系，这些关系是否因农村/城市背景和社会经济地位而异？这将通过使用英国一些极有价值的现有（二手）数据集来实现。二手数据集对这项研究非常有用，因为a)它们已经得到了资助、收集和处理，因此非常具有成本效益；b)它们往往非常大，使我们能够解决复杂的研究问题。我们的项目将整合两类二级数据：1)健康和社会经济状况数据（如来自人口普查和住户调查的数据）和2)生态类型指标（如草原、林地、海岸）和特征指标（如生物多样性、生态系统质量、指定状态）。这些关系最初将在国家一级加以探讨。这将由使用详细的当地环境数据的个案研究加以补充，这些数据只能在较小的范围内获得。双重方法将允许交叉验证的发现。分析将主要采用流行病学方法，但是该团队、研究问题和数据的跨学科性质意味着将使用社会科学和自然科学方法的混合。该项目将由一个跨学科的研究小组和顾问委员会领导，其中包括流行病学、生态学、地理学、社会学和心理学方面经验丰富的研究人员。它将受益于与公共和第三部门机构的合作——自然英格兰、森林研究和康沃尔野生动物基金会。预期成果包括：环境/卫生政策直接相关性知识的进步、方法和理论的发展、研究能力的提高，以及（视许可情况而定）适合与人口数据进一步联系的生态指标数据集。研究结果将引起学术界和其他公共/私人研究最终用户的兴趣。所产生的证据将允许自然英格兰、林业委员会、地方当局和其他为人类利益管理自然环境的组织制定适当的国家和地方背景相关政策，如DEFRA新白皮书“自然选择”中列出的政策。这项研究将促进资源的有效分配和制定有针对性的干预措施和方案，从而最大限度地造福环境、社会和个人。项目成果将通过学术出版物、国际会议报告、网站和网络活动等多种方式分享。

There is growing interest in understanding how natural environments may support good health and wellbeing. Researchers have investigated effects of natural spaces on health behaviours, physical and mental health, and socio-economic health inequalities. Generally, positive relationships are demonstrated, and some explanatory theories for positive effects have been proposed. These include provision of locations and motivation for physical activity and opportunities for 'restoration' from the stresses of daily life. However, the evidence is mixed and occasionally contradictory. One reason for this variation may be related to the crude definitions of the natural environment or 'greenspace'. Researchers often consider all natural areas together regardless of type, variety or quality. Natural areas, whether urban or rural, actually encompass a wide range of environmental characteristics which may have differing impacts on people's behaviours, health and wellbeing. The lack of a nuanced consideration of nature with regard to its human health and wellbeing impacts has been highlighted as a gap in the evidence in several systematic reviews of existing research.The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of relationships between natural environments and health by addressing the question: Do different types and qualities of natural environment have varying relationships with human health and wellbeing, and do these relationships differ according to rural/urban context and socio-economic status? This will be achieved by using some of the UK's extremely valuable existing (secondary) datasets. Secondary datasets are very useful for this research because a) they have already been funded, collected and processed, so are very cost-effective and b) they tend to be very large, allowing us to address complex research questions. Our project will integrate two types of secondary data: 1) health and socio-economic status data (such as from the census and household surveys) and 2) indicators of ecological type (e.g. grassland, woodland, coast) and character (e.g. biodiversity, ecosystem quality, designated status). These relationships will initially be explored at a national level. This will be complemented by a case study using detailed local environmental data, which is only available at a smaller scale. The dual approach will allow for the cross-validation of findings. The analyses will mainly take an epidemiological approach, but the interdisciplinary nature of the team, research question and data means that a mix of social and natural science methods will be used.The project will be led by a cross-disciplinary research team and advisory board incorporating experienced researchers in epidemiology, ecology, geography, sociology and psychology. It will benefit from collaboration with public and third sector bodies - Natural England, Forest Research and Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Expected outcomes include advances in knowledge of direct environment/health policy relevance, developments in methodology and theory, increased research capacity, and (dependant on permissions) an ecological indicator dataset suitable for further linkage with population data. The outcomes will be of interest to academic and other public/private research end users. The evidence produced will allow Natural England, the Forestry Commission, Local Authorities and other organisations who manage the natural environment for human benefit to develop appropriate national and locally context relevant responses to policies such as those set out in the new DEFRA white paper 'The Natural Choice'. This research will facilitate the effective allocation of resources and the development of targeted interventions and programmes resulting in maximised benefit to the environment, society and individual. The project findings will be shared through various means including academic publication, international conference presentations, websites and networking events.