The Impact of Nature and Green Spaces on the Symptoms of Depression in South Asian Women Living in Canada and Other Western Countries
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Authors
Mangat, Rav
Issue Date
2025-08-01
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
nature , green spaces , depression , south asian women , cultural stigma , intergenerational trauma
Alternative Title
Abstract
Over recent decades, Canadian society is living a more sedentary lifestyle indoors, with increasing time spent looking at television and computer screens (Park et al., 2020). Alongside this, depression rates have also been steadily increasing (Barrable et al., 2024; Park et al., 2020). This paper investigated the impact of the outdoors, nature, and green spaces on the symptoms of depression in adults, with a particular focus on South Asian women. The literature review has considered studies conducted across multiple continents, including both Western and Eastern cultures. Evidence indicates that time spent outdoors in nature does positively reduce depression and boost mood (Blanchfield, 2024; Brinsley & Rosenbaum, 2024; Solan, 2024; Swinson et al., 2019). These findings support Wilson’s biophilia theory, developed in the 1980s (McDonnell &Strayer, 2024). The review found only two studies that focused on depression in women only (Lahart et al., 2019; Song et al., 2019). No studies were found that focused on South Asian women. The lack of studies for South Asian women may reflect the lack of importance given to their mental health needs. The evidence suggests a culture and gender gap in research on this topic.
Description
Citation
Publisher
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
openAccess
openAccess