Forest Bathing Increases Adolescent Connection to Nature: A Mixed Methods Study

Previous research has demonstrated that practicing forest bathing has significant positive effects on well-being. However, few studies have investigated whether forest bathing increases practitioner connectedness to nature or involved adolescent participants. Determining if forest bathing increases connectedness to nature is a critical expansion of forest bathing research, as connectedness to nature is linked to environmental care and concern as well as well-being. This study sought to determine high school students’ experiences of forest bathing, a nature-based mindfulness practice, and explored the possibility that it could increase their connectedness to nature. This study used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design that was partially cocreated with participants aged 16–18 years as part of a youth participatory action research project. After forest bathing three times over 3 weeks, participants’ connectedness to nature increased significantly as measured by the Connectedness to Nature Scale. Through qualitative methods, participants described increased connection to nature, gratitude for nature, concern for nature, and care for nature. Although this is one of the first studies to examine forest bathing impacts on participants’ connectedness to nature, these findings correlate with other studies showing that spending time outside in nature increases connection to nature and care and concern for the environment. The study demonstrated that it is possible to increase the time that high school students spend in nature as part of their scheduled day, with significant benefits for their relationship with nature.