As part of the UK’s cross-government commitment to embed GSP into communities to prevent and tackle mental ill health, the HNY Health and Care Partnership was commissioned as one of seven ‘Test and Learn’ GSP sites across England.
The cohort evaluation as a central objective of the HNY GSP programme collected before and after outcome data to demonstrate the mental health benefits of engaging in nature-based interventions linked to the GSP initiative. A total of 173 ‘Before’ and ‘After’ surveys were completed between February 2022-March 2023. Participating in GSP activities significantly improved wellbeing from medium to high thresholds on the ONS-4 scale and was associated with a significant reduction in anxiety and depression on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (medium effect size). Moreover, GSP activities of between 5 to 12 weeks and horticultural and care farming activities were found to offer the most benefit for wellbeing and mental health.
