The Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees

Internationally, shifts to more urbanised populations, and resultant reductions in engagements with nature, have been a contributing factor to the mental health crisis facing many developed and developing countries. While the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced recent trends in many countries to give acces...

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Autores principales:	Sebastian Hinde, Laura Bojke, Peter Coventry
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	ecotherapy mental health physical health greenspace nature-based intervention economic evaluation Medicine R
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a2745775c20746838d31a5d02ab932b7
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a2745775c20746838d31a5d02ab932b72021-11-11T16:42:21ZThe Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees10.3390/ijerph1821115991660-46011661-7827https://doaj.org/article/a2745775c20746838d31a5d02ab932b72021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11599https://doaj.org/toc/1661-7827https://doaj.org/toc/1660-4601Internationally, shifts to more urbanised populations, and resultant reductions in engagements with nature, have been a contributing factor to the mental health crisis facing many developed and developing countries. While the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced recent trends in many countries to give access to green spaces more weight in political decision making, nature-based activities as a form of intervention for those with mental health problems constitute a very small part of patient pathways of care. Nature-based interventions, such as ecotherapy, are increasingly used as therapeutic solutions for people with common mental health problems. However, there is little data about the potential costs and benefits of ecotherapy, making it difficult to offer robust assessments of its cost-effectiveness. This paper explores the capacity for ecotherapy to be cost-effective as a healthcare intervention. Using a pragmatic scoping review of the literature to understand where the potential costs and health benefit lie, we applied value of information methodology to identify what research is needed to inform future cost-effectiveness assessments. We show that there is the potential for ecotherapy for people with mild to moderate common mental health problems to be cost-effective but significant further research is required. Furthermore, nature-based interventions such as ecotherapy also confer potential social and wider returns on investment, strengthening the case for further research to better inform robust commissioning.Sebastian HindeLaura BojkePeter CoventryMDPI AGarticleecotherapymental healthphysical healthgreenspacenature-based interventioneconomic evaluationMedicineRENInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 18, Iss 11599, p 11599 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	ecotherapy mental health physical health greenspace nature-based intervention economic evaluation Medicine R
spellingShingle	ecotherapy mental health physical health greenspace nature-based intervention economic evaluation Medicine R Sebastian Hinde Laura Bojke Peter Coventry The Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees
description	Internationally, shifts to more urbanised populations, and resultant reductions in engagements with nature, have been a contributing factor to the mental health crisis facing many developed and developing countries. While the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced recent trends in many countries to give access to green spaces more weight in political decision making, nature-based activities as a form of intervention for those with mental health problems constitute a very small part of patient pathways of care. Nature-based interventions, such as ecotherapy, are increasingly used as therapeutic solutions for people with common mental health problems. However, there is little data about the potential costs and benefits of ecotherapy, making it difficult to offer robust assessments of its cost-effectiveness. This paper explores the capacity for ecotherapy to be cost-effective as a healthcare intervention. Using a pragmatic scoping review of the literature to understand where the potential costs and health benefit lie, we applied value of information methodology to identify what research is needed to inform future cost-effectiveness assessments. We show that there is the potential for ecotherapy for people with mild to moderate common mental health problems to be cost-effective but significant further research is required. Furthermore, nature-based interventions such as ecotherapy also confer potential social and wider returns on investment, strengthening the case for further research to better inform robust commissioning.
format	article
author	Sebastian Hinde Laura Bojke Peter Coventry
author_facet	Sebastian Hinde Laura Bojke Peter Coventry
author_sort	Sebastian Hinde
title	The Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees
title_short	The Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees
title_full	The Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees
title_fullStr	The Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees
title_full_unstemmed	The Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees
title_sort	cost effectiveness of ecotherapy as a healthcare intervention, separating the wood from the trees
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a2745775c20746838d31a5d02ab932b7
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The Cost Effectiveness of Ecotherapy as a Healthcare Intervention, Separating the Wood from the Trees

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