The Role of the Environment in Mental Health Promotion: Investigating Mental Well-Being in the Credit River Watershed

As more and more individuals are moving to and living in cities, the mental health burden of illness is rising, having individual, social and economic ramifications across the entire population (Srivastava, 2009). This raises the question of how to prevent, mitigate or reduce the effects of urban stress on individuals living in cities as the population continues to rise.

This question was approached within the context the Credit River Watershed. 107 household surveys were administered in two contrasting urban neighbourhoods to discern the habits of respondents with regards to attending different types of natural spaces, and how relaxing those spaces are. These responses showed that overall, respondents found blue space, i.e. being near water features like rivers, ponds, and lakes, to be the most relaxing of all types of space, followed by looking out of windows at natural spaces, and private green space.

Factor analysis was conducted on the responses of how relaxing different natural spaces are. This revealed four different factors within the data, which have been named "Self-Reported State of Mental Well-being," "Wilderness and Personal Spaces," "Designed Spaces," and "Relaxing Activities." These factors, excluding the "Self-Reported State of Mental Well-being" factor, were used in designing an Environmental Index of Mental Well-being (EIMWB), which could be used as a way of monitoring the impact of environmental management on mental well-being over time.

The information from EIMWB monitoring and other data about the effects of natural spaces on mental well-being could be used together within the context of mental health promotion. Due to the more subjective nature of data connecting mental health with the environment, mental health promotion has not been embraced fully by public health agencies, where most health promotion strategies arepositioned. Assuming that the requirement for hard scientific data will not be changed, alternativevenues within which to place mental health promotion should be considered. This paper thus concludes that environmental management and design within urban areas can provide a setting for environmentally-based mental health promotion.