Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment reveals mental health benefits of birdlife.

ABSTRACT: The mental health benefits of everyday encounters with birdlife for mental health are poorly understood. Previous studies have typically relied on retrospective questionnaires or artificial set-ups with little ecological validity. In the present study, we used the Urban Mind smartphone application to examine the impact of seeing or hearing birds on self-reported mental wellbeing in real-life contexts. A sample of 1292 participants completed a total of 26,856 ecological momentary assessments between April 2018 and October 2021. Everyday encounters with birdlife were associated with time-lasting improvements in mental wellbeing. These improvements were evident not only in healthy people but also in those with a diagnosis of depression, the most common mental illness across the world. These f

SUBMITTER: Hammoud R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9614007 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature