The two-day Autumn School event with GoGreenRoutes hosted at the Hamilton Institute, Maynooth University (October 12th – 13th), saw the launch of a new configuration of our mobile application designed to promote psychological resilience and nature connectedness in university students across six participating European cities. Both mental health and nature are currently under threat globally, yet the optimal solution may be to address both challenges together with benefits for well-being and the natural environment.
The six-week digital programme focuses upon cultivating key psychological skills and enhancing participants’ relationship with the natural world through engagement with bespoke psychoeducational materials and a suite of nature-based activities. The programme will be made available to a range of students in GoGreenRoutes ‘Cultivating’ Cities, Limerick, Lahti, Umeå, Tallinn, Versailles and Burgas, over the coming six-month period.
The programme development has been led by the Institute of Child Education and Psychology, Europe (Ireland) and Monsenso (Denmark), and this process has been carefully conducted with the end user in mind. Programme content is based upon cutting-edge research in the promotion of psychological resilience and the need to cultivate the relationship between humans and nature.
Participating users of the research project will consist of university students in each of the six cities, who will embark upon an experiential six-week learning journey wherein one specific domain of psychological resilience will be addressed each week. A selection of five suggested nature-centered activities is provided in the application for each of the six resilience domains, with users retaining a sense of autonomy as to determining which of the activities are most suitable to their needs and preferences.
Participant engagement with the programme will be monitored on an ongoing weekly basis, and the efficacy of the programme will be assessed based upon the impact noted in users’ psychological resilience, nature connectedness, psychological wellbeing, pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, sleep quality, and levels of outdoor activity across the six-week engagement period.
The first rollout of the programme will commence in mid-November and the implementation process will continue in the six European cities until April 2024.
For more information about the research project, visit GoGreenRoutes.eu.