Publications by authors named "Annika Kolster"

Article Synopsis
  • * The study involved 162 lonely participants who engaged in a weekly nature-based program for nine weeks, while 157 others received standard care; their health, loneliness, and wellbeing were assessed before and after the intervention.
  • * Results showed a typical participant age of 83, with most dealing with co-morbidities; about 57% of those in the nature program reported reduced loneliness, and 96% would recommend the intervention to others.
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Introduction: Loneliness, social inactivity, and social isolation are intertwined concepts. When assessed separately, they indicate poor well-being, adverse health effects, and increased mortality. Studies exploring overlapping and comparing the prognosis of these concepts are scarce.

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Background: The negative effects of loneliness on population health and wellbeing requires interventions that transcend the medical system and leverage social, cultural, and public health system resources. Group-based social interventions are a potential method to alleviate loneliness. Moreover, nature, as part of our social and health infrastructure, may be an important part of the solutions that are needed to address loneliness.

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Background: Contact with nature promotes wellbeing through diverse pathways, providing a potential way of supporting health especially in primary care, where patients commonly suffer from multimorbidity and poor general health. Social prescribing is a non-pharmaceutical approach for improving health as well as social inclusion. This field study explores and compares the effects of a nature-based and an exercise-based social prescribing scheme on mental wellbeing and sleep, in a primary care population.

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