This study investigated whether the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – a widely used preventive mental health intervention – is enhanced when the intervention is delivered in a natural environment. Participants (n = 99) were randomly assigned to a weekly one-hour MBSR in one of three different environments (i.e. natural outdoor, built outdoor and indoor environments) over a six-week period. Participants’ wellbeing outcomes and nature connectedness were measured at baseline, during the intervention and at one-week and one-month follow up. The results show that the mental health and wellbeing outcomes of MBSR are greater when it carried out in a natural outdoor environment compared with indoor or built environments. Moreover, participants in the natural outdoor environment showed sustained improvements even after one month from completion of the intervention. 

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This study supports the potential value of natural environments as settings for the enhancement of health care delivery and therapeutic interventions.