Characteristics of natural environment use by occupational therapists working in mental health: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this review is to identify and characterize the use of the natural environment/outdoor space by occupational therapists working in mental health care.

Introduction: Research has shown that the natural environment is beneficial for our health and can be used to help people who are experiencing mental health problems. Occupational therapists are well placed to assess and utilize the environment when treating people with mental health problems; however, the use of the natural environment/outdoor space by occupational therapists working in mental health is unclear.

Inclusion Criteria: This scoping review will include both primary research and gray literature relating to the use of the natural environment/outdoor space in mental health occupational therapy practice. The review will be limited to studies published in English. There will be no geographical or age restrictions.

Methods: Embase (Ovid), MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), PsycINFO (ProQuest), AMED (EBSCO), Trip Database, Emcare (Ovid), and OTSeeker will be searched for studies. Unpublished studies and gray literature will be searched using GreyNet and National Grey Literature Collection, alongside professional magazines and websites. Titles and abstracts will be screened by 2 independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria, followed by a full-text review and data extraction. Any disagreements will be discussed with a third reviewer. Data will be extracted using a data extraction tool developed by the reviewers, and presented in tabular format, accompanied by a narrative summary describing how the results relate to the review objective and question.