Researchers find that disadvantaged young people benefit from supported nature activities - Froglife
OU researchers have produced new evidence which suggests that disadvantaged and vulnerable young people benefit from supported nature-focused activities.
Dr Jitka Vseteckova (Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies) and Dr Joanna Horne (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), are authors on a co-produced article titled: Ecotherapy and out-of-classroom learning for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people: an evaluation of a project in England, which has just been published in the journal, Environmental Education Research.
The paper is the result of a long-term inclusive research engagement and co-production between the OU and the Froglife Trust, funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Benefits of ecotherapy versus pill prescribing
The OU researchers decided to undertake this research because they felt that research into the benefits of activities, which they call Ecotherapeutic out-of-classroom environmental education (EE) programmes, is limited.
Jenny Tse-Leon, Head of Conservation and Impact at the Froglife Trust and co-author on the paper said: “We have been told in the past that there is a lack of hard evidence to demonstrate the impact of ecotherapy / participating in nature-based activities on the participants who take part. Especially in the context of social prescribing where GPs would like data similar to that provided by pharmaceutical companies to demonstrate that rather than prescribing a pill once a day for six weeks patients could instead come on one of these sessions once a week and get the same benefits.”
Posted On: 06/03/2025
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