Increased Exposure to Nature Reduces Elementary Students' Anxiety

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of nature-based guidance lessons on anxiety and connection to nature among elementary students using a pretest post-test with control group experimental design. Nature-based interventions have been an effective treatment for anxiety among adults, but there is less literature conducted with children, and no other studies thus far have examined interventions as implemented by a school counselor through guidance lessons. An elementary school was recruited through convenience sampling and included four third grade classes, representing the entire grade level at the school, which were randomly assigned to control and experimental conditions. Participants were given anxiety and connection to nature assessments 1 week before and after the 6-week intervention. Data were analyzed using a two-way mixed analysis of variance for each assessment, and t-tests were done to establish group equivalence at baseline. Results indicated that anxiety was significantly reduced among the experimental group, and that there was a significant increase in connection to nature among both groups. Based on these findings, this study presents a cost-effective intervention that reduces student anxiety and is easily incorporated into an existing guidance curriculum.