The impact of hydrological wellness design on the psychological health and social interaction of rural elderly people

Context The increase in China’s aging population raises health and social isolation issues for rural elderly. Hydrological wellness design, integrating natural hydrology and wellness, may benefit their wellbeing, but its specific effects and mechanisms on this group are understudied. Aims This study explores hydrological wellness design’s impact on the rural elderly’s psychological health and social interaction, focusing on relationships between its perception, health response and multimodal interactive perception, and the latter’s mediating role. Methods Data were collected from rural elderly people aged 60 and above in Zengcheng District, Guangzhou, through a questionnaire survey. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to test the reliability and validity of the scales, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied to empirically analyse the path relationships between variables. Key results Hydrological wellness design perception positively correlated with health response (path coefficient = 0.241, P < 0.05), and influenced it through multimodal interactive perception (path coefficient = 0.178, P < 0.05), which had a partial mediating effect (0.049, P < 0.05), with multisensory experiences indirectly enhancing elderly wellbeing. Conclusions Hydrological wellness design improves the rural elderly’s psychological health and social interaction by multimodal interactive perception, supporting the ‘environmental perception–interactive experience–health response’ pathway. Implications This study informs rural wellness design, emphasising hydrological elements and multisensory experiences. It guides policymakers, designers and health managers in promoting wellbeing for the elderly.