99752 - Mental Health, Psychophysical Wellbeing and Outdoor Environments

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is able to: • Define the concepts of mental health and psychophysical wellbeing according to the psychological perspective; • Understand the role played by stress and emotional regulation regarding mental health and wellbeing; • Acquire scientific knowledge and evidence on the protective and beneficial role played by nature; • Define Nature-based interventions, describe their implementation and their benefits for mental health and psychophysical wellbeing; • Describe the psychological benefits of Outdoor Education and interactions with nature for childhood.

Course contents

The course will take place during the second semester of A.Y. 2022/2023.

The main topics of the frontal lessons will be:

- Introduction to concepts of mental health and psychophysical wellbeing according to main psychological perspectives.

- Definition of stress, understanding of mechanisms of stress and emotion regulation; description of related protective and risk factors.

- Understanding of the beneficial effects of outdoor nature environments for mental health and psychophysical wellbeing: evidence from research fields of psychology  (e.g. clinical psychology); definition of Nature-based Interventions aimed at supporting mental health.

- Definition of Outdoor Education (OE) and description of OE implementation in infancy; understanding of psychological benefits of OE for child development, mental health and psychophysical wellbeing.

Specific lessons will be dedicated to:

- Group discussions on selected scientific articles.

- Visits to kindergarten/schools trained in OE, to understand the usefulness and sustainability of this approach.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Texts to study:

1) van den Bosch M., Bird W. (2018). Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health. Oxford University Press. Selected chapters will be communicated at the beginning of the course.

2) Steg L., de Groot J.I.M. (2019). Environmental Psychology. An introduction. John Wiley & Sons.  Selected chapters will be communicated at the beginning of the course.

3) Selected scientific articles will be presented by the Professor and shared with the students at the beginning of the course.

Teaching methods

• Frontal lessons on main theoretical aspects of the course.
  
  
• Group discussion on selected international articles on recent scientific debates around the topic.
  
  
• Visits to specific outdoor environments (e.g. OE kindergartens/schools).

Assessment methods

Final oral exam on the selected books and articles.

Possible questions focus on main theoretical topics and on the most recent scientific evidence on the benefits of outdoor enviornments for mental health.

Scoring is graduated as follow:

The knowledge is limited to a small number of contents of the course, critical comprehension is lacking (or it emerges only through the help of the professor), and language is not adequate → 18-20;

The knowledge is limited to a small number of contents of the course, language is adequate, critical analysis emerges only for practical topics, language is adequate → 21-24;

The knowledge covers most of the contents of the course, the critical comprehension is adequate and specific terminology is mastered → 25-29;

The knowledge covers all the contents of the course, the critical comprehension and ability of connection is evident, mastery of specific terminology of the course, ability to critically discuss all the topics → 30-30L.

More details will be given at the beginning of the lessons.

The student has to subscribe for the exam to the internet website respecting the deadline. Studentes having problems in the subscription, nedd to get in contact with the Didactic Office. The Professor will then decide if admitting the student or not.

Teaching tools

Projector, pc, supplementary scientific articles.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Agostini