This past summer we were happy to have two of our HRG staff give wonderful presentations on some of our data and research at the SHIFT conference in Bend, Oregon. Abby Kisicki and Jad Darwiche gave two lovely presentations which perfectly exemplified the impact, scope, and current status of the research being conducted by HRG.

Kisicki's presentation "Associations Among Green Space and Social Cohesion: A Scoping Review" served to explain both the current data coming out of the StAND study and the literature review HRG did centering on papers containing original research on the relationship between green space usage and social cohesion. The often cited 1988 Kuo and Sullivan paper "Fertile Ground for Community: Inner-City Neighborhood Common Spaces" found a positive relationship between time spent in nature and social cohesion, and the goal of our literature review was to see if further data had been collected to support this relationship. Using a PRISMA-ScR model to conduct the review, HRG found that the majority of papers (15 out of 19) which included original data on both green space usage and social cohesion found also found a positive relationship between the two. As Kisicki explained in her presentation, a further interesting finding of this review was that, although the data measures for social cohesion were similar paper to paper, the measure for green space varied widely. This in turn made us look internally at our research and compare it to the other studies happening in the field, providing space for reflection and further analysis. Although she is not one of the primary researchers on the topic, Kisicki did a wonderful job filling in and fabulously communicated the relevance of the work.

​Darwiche's presentation "The Bidirectional Relationship Between Mood and Time in Nature" explained the ways in which HRG has analyzed and quantified the data we have received from the CANS research on mental wellbeing as it relates to natural spaces. In the presentation Darwiche explained his extrapolations on the data set which led to two major conclusions. Firstly, that although most people surveyed agreed that spending time in nature increased their mood, only 50% felt confident in their ability to go out in nature when experiencing a mood dip. Secondly, the data indicates that people experiencing high stress then have a lower mood, this leads to a decrease in self efficacy, which then causes a decrease in time in nature. Similarly, there is a relationship between less reported time in nature away from the home and low mood. Throughout the presentation Darwiche eloquently demonstrated the ways in which working with this type of data set is challenging, as well as the methodology for parsing through the data.

On our end of things, attending this conference was helpful not only because it allowed us to share the interesting findings and data we have gathered through our research, but also because it allowed us to reflect on the most important things to share to the broader community engaged in our work. Connecting with folks at the SHIFT conference is specifically meaningful because of the diverse audience in attendance. The SHIFT conference garners attendees from all walks of life including educators, academics, parks and recreation, nurses, CDC staff and more. It is a unique experience of the meeting of minds from all fields and one we always look forward to. We were honored to be some of the presenters at this conference and were incredibly grateful for the opportunity to engage with and learn from the other people in attendance. 

It is with great excitement that we announce the publishing of our recent paper, "Four recommendations to tackle the complex reality of transdisciplinary, natural experiment research." This paper was born out of the Horton Research Group's work with natural experiments which involve low-income, minoritized communities and the their connection with nature. It is through many years of study, research, and revising research methods that we have come to the conclusions represented in this paper, conclusions we hope will assist others when conducting similar research. Ultimately, it is our hope that the work of HRG can increase our understanding of how human-nature relationships shape our lives and worlds. Aside from conducting such research ourselves,  one way for us to help further this goal is to provide others with the tools we have found helpful in our own work. When one researcher benefits we all benefit and, as such, we publish these four recommendations so that they may help others shape their own high quality natural experiments. Our recommendations are as follows: (1) Engage with community leaders; (2) Build a transdisciplinary team and work closely; (3) Examine privilege; and (4) Create a unified vision. 

Interested in learning more? Read the full paper here and check out all of the papers published by HRG on our publications tab.