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The Relationship Between Nature and Immigrants’ Integration, Wellbeing and Physical Activity: A Sco** Review

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A Correction to this article was published on 08 May 2023

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Abstract

Exposure to nature has been suggested to promote immigrants’ health and facilitate adaptation. This review summarizes previous research focusing on the relationship between nature and immigrants’ integration, wellbeing and physical activity. A search strategy was developed and adapted to seven databases. After removing duplicates, 4861 records were screened, 81 met inclusion criteria. Community gardens and urban parks were the most studied environments. In these settings, embodied experiences (the interactive processes of sensing and cognition) can foster new memories that facilitate adaptation and attachment to new natural environments. Social interaction and reconnecting with pre-migration experiences through specific use patterns can promote cultural continuation, sense of belonging and wellbeing. Other health benefits such as physical activity, disease management and improved nutrition were less frequently studied. Barriers to participation and recommendations for research and practice were also identified. Use of stronger study designs and greater inclusion of immigrant groups in research, design and evaluation of nature-based initiatives is needed.

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Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to David Scott, our health science librarian, for his help in develo** the search strategy.

Funding

This study was supported by research assistantship funds from the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge and an Alberta Innovates Summer Studentship award (to RAL). RL is a founding member of Outdoor Play Canada. All other authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

UCR and RL contributed to the study conception and design. UCR performed the database search and the thematic analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors participated in the screening process and data extraction and commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulises Charles-Rodriguez.

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This research was not submitted to any formal institutional review.

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The original online version of this article was revised: the typo in corresponding author name has been corrected.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Integration

Authors, Year, Country

Method

Type of natural environment*

Findings

Abramovic, Turner and Hope (2019) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens facilitate a place ‘attunement’ process and increase belonging (with human and non- human)

Addas and Risbeth (2018) Saudi Arabia

Qualitative

Public spaces (some green spaces)

Green public spaces facilitate the connection past memories that shape sense of belonging. These spaces facilitate social recognition

Agustina and Beilin (2012) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens can increase belonging and connection to new community and environment

Baker (2004) Canada

Qualitative

Community gardens

Community gardens can be spaces where counter hegemonic citizenship and food citizenship take place

Biemnet (2019) Canada

Qualitative

Nature

Nature can have an important role in integration process and the development of place attachment. It can also be a space of cultural shock

Bishop and Purcell (2013) UK

Qualitative

Horticulture/gardening

Gardening can facilitate belonging

Boyd (2012) US

Qualitative

Green space (watershed)

Greenspace can be a reminder of home. It facilitates the development of community cohesion, sense of place and sense of neighborhood

Cadzow, Byrne and Goodall (2010) Australia

Qualitative

River environments

River environments represent connections with landscapes and memories. They help to develop sense of place and belonging, social cohesion and integration

Coughlan and Hermes (2016) US

Qualitative

Green spaces

Green spaces play a role in place making and the negotiation of displacement. They are a means of integration

Cummings, Rowe Minniss, Harris and Somerset (2008) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens can promote sense of belonging, mutual aid, trust and reciprocity, and assist in settlement

Derrien and Stokowski (2014) US

Qualitative

Local landscapes and environments

Local landscapes facilitate the development of place relationships (sense of place)

Gentin et al. (2018) Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden

Qualitative

Nature-based integration activities and programs

Nature-based integration programs assist immigrants in their adaptation to the new environments. They promote social integration and foster sense of place

Gerodetti and Foster (2016) UK

Qualitative

Gardening

Gardening offer opportunities for integration and adaptation of gardening practices

Graham and Connell (2006) Australia

Mixed methods

Home garden

Home gardens can help settlement by connecting immigrants to their past. They foster sense of place and facilitate the transfer of cultural values to children

Gran-O’Donnell (2018) US

Mixed methods

Places and nature

Nature can contribute to wellbeing and offer places for community socialization

Grzymala-Kazlowska (2018) UK

Qualitative

Favorite places (parks or mountains)

Natural settings can function as "anchoring" places in adaptation, facilitate attachment and integration

Harris, Minniss and Somerset (2014) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community garden can help reconnecting with their (agri)culture and foster community belonging

Hondagneu-Sotelo (2017) US

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens can be a re-creation of homeland. They play a role in the meaning making of home and belonging

Hordyk, Dulude and Shem (2015) Canada

Qualitative

Urban park summer camp

Being in the park facilitates an embodied adaptation, belonging, and reduces social and linguistic barriers (in children)

Hung (2003) Canada

Qualitative

Parks and outdoor activities

Participation and use of parks depend on acculturation

Hurly (2019) Canada

Qualitative

Nature-based leisure

Nature-based leisure can foster belonging but also trigger nostalgia

Hurly and Walker (2019) Canada

Qualitative

Nature-based leisure

Nature-based leisure can foster sense of belonging and community. It can be a symbol of integration and provide a glimpse of normality

Jay and Schraml (2009) Germany

Qualitative

Urban woodlands

Emotional and spiritual bonding to forests is common. Forests have attached meaning, and function as universal spaces in integration process. They facilitate sense of belonging. There are ethnic differences in values and perceptions

Jay and Schraml (2014) Germany

Qualitative

Urban forest

Migration can contribute to a decrease in frequency of visits to forests, loss of familiarity with the natural world, and shift in recreational practices

Johnson, Bowker and Cordell (2005) US

Quantitative

Outdoor recreation

Outdoor recreation activities can be a way to acculturate and/or express one’s own culture of origin

Kale (2019) New Zealand

Qualitative

Places (natural) and land

Connecting with the land can develop place attachment and belonging, put down roots, literally (in gardening) and symbolically

Lange, Vogels, and Jamal (2011) Canada

Mixed methods

Provincial parks

Recreation is a major part of settlement. Provincial parks can contribute to increase sense of place and belonging

Leikkilä, Faehnle and Galanakis (2013) Findland

Qualitative

Urban nature

Participation in urban nature facilitates identification with the host environment and integration (structural, social, identificational and cognitive)

Li, Sotiriadou and Auld (2015) Australia

Qualitative

Sports (outdoors)

(Outdoor) sports can facilitate acculturation but their role diminished over time

Lobo (2014) Australia

Qualitative

Public space (suburban beach)

The beach facilitates embodied disruptions of racial force fields (whiteness)

Lovelock et al. (2011) New Zealand

Qualitative

Outdoor nature-based recreation

Outdoor recreation enables connections with past. However, there are ethnic differences in perceptions and values. Parks are social institutions that can reproduce social exclusion

Lovelock, Lovelock, Jellum and Thompson (2012) New Zealand

Quantitative

Nature-based recreation

Nature-based recreation offers different benefits depending on settlement stage

Main (2013) US

Mixed methods

Urban parks

Urban parks provide elements of continuity, discontinuity and change. They play a role in place making, reconstruction of identity, and belonging

Main and Sandoval (2015) US

Mixed methods

Park

Parks can be a reminder of homeland. They play a role in place making, identity confirmation (cultural practices), agency and citizenship through local engagement and action

Maulidi, Wulandari and Lop (2017) Indonesia

Qualitative

Land (rice fields)

Rice fields increase residential satisfaction and place attachment

Mazumdar and Mazumdar (2009) US

Qualitative

Home garden

Home gardens can foster sense of belonging and identity, but also trigger nostalgia

Mazumdar and Mazumdar (2012) US

Qualitative

Home garden

Home gardens can be an ethnic space and foster place attachment

Peters (2010) Netherlands

Qualitative

Public spaces (parks)

Public spaces can facilitate feeling of togetherness (native and immigrants) and home. Nature can be a transitional space between private and public spaces

Peters, Elands and Buijs (2010) Netherlands

Mixed methods

Urban parks

Urban parks can be inclusive spaces that offer leisure opportunities. Native-born are more attached to parks than immigrants

Peters, Stodolska and Horolets (2016) US, Germany, Poland and Netherlands

Qualitative

Natural environments

Natural environments facilitate the connection with pre-migration memories. There is a mediation of demographic factors in attachment to nature in host countries. Adaptation can be a bio-directional (immigrants resha** nature)

Phillipp and Ho (2010) New Zealand

Qualitative

Outdoors

Participation in the outdoors can be a strategy in the settlement process. Outdoors can facilitate feelings of home and belonging

Preiss (2013) US

Mixed methods

Community garden

Participating in community gardens creates connections with past agricultural identity, knowledge and occupations. They can foster place attachment

Risbeth, Blachnicka-Ciacek and Darling (2019) Germany and UK

Qualitative

Urban greenspace

Urban greenspace can function as ‘curated sociability’ space. They play a role in refugee integration, but tensions between users are not absent

Rishbeth and Finney (2005) UK

Qualitative

Outdoors

The outdoors can provide a glimpse of normality and contrast from everyday routines

Rishbeth and Powell (2013) UK

Qualitative

Outdoor spaces/landscapes

The outdoors can be spaces that foster social connection or trigger cultural disconnection. There can be similarities and differences in natural environments. Nature can exacerbate negative shock or reduce it

Sastre and Haldeman (2015) US

Qualitative

Home garden

Home gardens can be a protective factor against rapid dietary acculturation

Seeland, Dübendorfer and Hansmann (2009) Switzerland

Mixed methods

Public green space

Parks can be spaces for social inclusion (in children)

Silveirinha De Oliveira (2012) Portugal

Mixed methods

Natural public open spaces

Natural spaces can foster place dependence, place identity and place attachment. They can also increase the sense of belonging and decrease cultural shock in the integration process

Stodolska, Peters and Horolets (2017) US, Netherlands, Germany and Poland

Qualitative

Natural environments

Natural environments can facilitate psychological adaptation, cultural adaptation and place attachment. However, they can also trigger dislocation, nostalgia, alienation, and uprootedness. These spaces were not conducive to socialize with strangers

Stoetzer (2011) Germany

Qualitativ

Urban nature

Urban nature can facilitate cosmopolitanism, and/or express conflicts around migration, race and inequality

Strunk and Richardson (2019) US

Qualitative

Gardens

Gardens can facilitate identity construction and social visibility. They can also foster belonging

Thompson, Corkery and Judd (2007) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens can facilitate cross-cultural relations and belonging

Walker (2018) US

Qualitative

Landscape and natural environment

Natural environments can foster belonging, bridge between past and present, and facilitate the acceptance of new home. Observations suggest the topophilia hypothesis

Wen Li, Hodgetts and Ho (2010) New Zealand

Qualitative

Domestic garden

Domestic gardens can provide continuity and connection to pre-migration daily-life and culture, and foster belonging (in seniors)

  1. *We report the type of natural environments as identified in the included articles

Appendix 2: Wellbeing

Authors, Year, Country

Method

Type of natural environment*

Findings

Abramovic, Turner and Hope (2019) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens offer a safe place to perform sensorial experiences (embodiment), and opportunities to grow cultural food. They represent connected ecologies where culture, community, food-production and recovery are entangled

Addas and Risbeth (2018) Saudi Arabia

Qualitative

Public spaces (some green)

Green public spaces facilitate restoration, and offer opportunities to perform religious practices and socialization

Agustina and Beilin (2012) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community garden facilitates self-actualization and socialization

Bain, Quinn and Rettie (2008) Canada

Qualitative

National parks

Going to national parks triggers feelings of appreciation, awe, inspiration, respect and attachment to nature

Baker (2019) Canada

Qualitative

Community gardens

Community gardens offer opportunities to cultivate culturally appropriate food security, use previous skills, and improve quality of life

Biemnet (2019) Canada

Qualitative

Nature

Nature fosters not only connection with people but with elements of the natural world

Bishop and Purcell (2013) UK

Qualitative

Horticulture/gardening

Gardening facilitates the development of social networks, and has benefits in doing (meaningful occupation), being (links to the past) and becoming (new opportunities). They can also have positive impacts on health and wellbeing

Boyd (2012) US

Qualitative

Green space (watershed)

Immigrants recall physical health benefits, weight loss, improvements in quality of life, and celebration of cultural heritage (in gardening)

Carney, et al. (2012) US

Mixed methods

Community garden

Community gardens reduce food insecurity, improve vegetable intake, and strengthen family relationships

Coughlan and Hermes (2016) US

Qualitative

Green spaces

Green spaces have restorative, therapeutic and spiritual capacities. They facilitate transgenerational teaching, physical and mental health benefits, and feelings of interconnection (physical, social and spiritual)

Cummings et al. (2008) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community garden facilitates the implementation of previous skills and knowledge, provide cultural food and improve quality of life

Das, Fan and French (2017) US

Qualitative

Parks

Parks offer spaces for relaxation and social (and family) gathering

Derrien and Stokowski (2014) US

Qualitative

Local landscapes and environments

Local natural environments can help to re-instituting cultural and family traditions

Di (2018) Canada

Qualitative

Wilderness recreation

Recreation in wilderness offers opportunities for socialization (with peer or mainstream society). The author recommended ideal activities for specific demographics (newcomer parents, established parents, settling adults, and still-exploring youth)

Eggert, Blood-Siegfried, Champagne, Al-Jumaily and Biederman (2015) US

Mixed methods

Community garden

Participants of community garden increased consumption of vegetables and improved nutrition. The garden fostered a system of donation and financial health

El-Bialy and Mulay (2015) Canada

Qualitative

Natural environments

Natural environments can facilitate emotional healing, distress management, and assist in co** with sadness and homesickness. They promote sense of wellbeing

Garcia (2014) US

Quantitative

Parks and recreation features

Latino neighborhoods are associated with fewer parks and higher risk of obesity

Gentin et al. (2018) Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden

Qualitative

Nature-based integration activities and programs

Nature-based integration activities enhance social interaction, provide embodied and mental experiences, and promote institutional capabilities, stress reduction and leisure (future hobbies)

Gerodetti and Foster (2016) UK

Qualitative

Gardening and allotment

Gardens can strengthen individual and social identities, and provide cultural food

Graham and Connell (2006) Australia

Mixed methods

Home garden

Home gardens can strengthen cultural relationships, ties and identities, and provide cultural food

Gran-O’Donnell (2018) US

Mixed methods

Places and nature

Nature can promote spiritual, emotional, mental and bodily wellbeing, healing, stress relief, re-centering, self-exploration, actualization and socialization

Grubesic (2013) US

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens can promote health, peace, pride and socialization

Harris, Minniss and Somerset (2014) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens facilitate food security improvements, access to culturally appropriate food, and use of past skills and knowledge

Hartwig and Mason (2016) US

Mixed-methods

Community garden

Community gardens can offer benefits on physical and mental health, food security and social support. Immigrants used previous skills and knowledge

Head et al. (2019) Australia

Qualitative

Gardening/farming

Gardening can promote physical and mental health, cultural identity, wellbeing, and relaxation. It can also facilitate the fulfillment of dietary preferences

Höglhammer, Muhar and Stokowski (2019) Austria

Qualitative

Peri-urban protected areas

Protected areas can offer opportunities for recreation, relaxation and recovery, and promote health and wellbeing

Hondagneu-Sotelo (2017) US

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens offer opportunities for socialization, stress reduction, and practice previous skills. They may provide benefits for newcomers who struggle with adjustment-related problems, stress and social isolation

Hordyk, Dulude and Shem (2015) Canada

Qualitative

Urban park summer camp

In children, parks offer a safe space for expressing difficult emotions (container), relaxing physically and emotionally (holding), and develo** relationship with plants/animals (attachment)

Hordyk, Hanley and Richard (2015) Canada

Qualitative

Urban greenspace

Visiting urban greenspace can reduce settlement stress and increase social interaction. Access to nature could be a social determinant of health

Hurly (2019) Canada

Qualitative

Nature-based leisure

Nature-based leisure offers opportunities for relaxation, esca** negative thoughts, restoration, mitigating of traumatic memories and stress, and promote physical and mental wellbeing

Hurly and Walker (2019) Canada

Qualitative

Nature-based leisure

Nature-based leisure facilitates empowerment, self-determination, relaxation and restoration

Jay and Schraml (2009) Germany

Qualitative

Urban woodlands

Urban woodlands offer opportunities for relaxation, retreat, stress relief, and social wellbeing. There are ethnic differences in the types of activities and outcomes of participation

Jay and Schraml (2014) Germany

Qualitative

Urban forest

Urban forests can be places for retreat and socialization. Some showed fear of forest

Kabisch and Haase (2014) Germany

Multi-method

Urban green space

Unequal distribution of urban green spaces in immigrant neighborhoods based on the Gini index

Kale (2019) New Zealand

Qualitative

Places (natural) and land

Green places can be therapeutic, promoting safety, happiness, and autonomy, and decreasing stress and anxiety

Kim et al. (2018) South Korea

Quantitative

Leisure activities (outdoors)

Outdoor activities were significantly correlated with life satisfaction and physical health

Kloek, Buijs, Boersema and Schouten (2015) Netherlands

Quantitative

Outdoor recreation

There are ethnic and intersectional differences in outcomes of participating outdoors, such as motivation, joy, socialization, retreat and recreation

Korpela (2018) India

Qualitative

Outdoor play

Children’ exploration, free play and improved quality of life can be facilitated by outdoor play

Lange, Vogels, and Jamal (2011) Canada

Mixed methods

Provincial parks

Participation in a nature-based integration program facilitated environmental literacy gains, positive experiences, relaxation, connection with nature, family wellbeing and socialization

Leikkilä, Faehnle and Galanakis (2013) Finland

Qualitative

Urban nature

Urban nature offers spaces for social interaction, relaxation and refuge from daily problems

Lovelock et al. (2011) New Zealand

Qualitative

Outdoor nature-based recreation

The outdoors are an ideal space to re-experience embodiment with nature

Lovelock, Lovelock, Jellum and Thompson (2012) New Zealand

Quantitative

Nature-based recreation

Nature-based recreation facilitates family time, socialization and the collection of food

Main (2013) US

Mixed methods

Urban parks

Parks can foster psychological wellbeing but participating is not free of tensions between feelings of community or isolation, restoration or disturbance, and safety or insecurity

Mazumdar and Mazumdar (2009) US

Qualitative

Home garden

Home gardens facilitate cultural and religious continuity

Mazumdar and Mazumdar (2012) US

Qualitative

Home garden

Home gardens facilitate religious, cultural and ecological socialization, and the production of cultural food

Minkoff-Zern (2012) US

Qualitative

Community Garden

Participating in community garden enabled finding shared identities and solidarity through agricultural and food practices; crucial for mobilization of resources

Peters (2010) Netherlands

Qualitative

Public spaces (parks)

Participants experienced feelings of safety, home, comfort, retreat and escape

Peters, Stodolska and Horolets (2016) US, Germany, Poland and Netherlands

Qualitative

Natural environments

Natural environments can facilitate feelings of peace, relaxation and stress reduction. They offer opportunities for social interaction and recreation. For some, they trigger longing for home environment

Preiss (2013) US

Mixed methods

Community garden

Community gardens foster self-reliance. Health and financial benefits were found

Risbeth, Blachnicka-Ciacek and Darling (2019) Germany and UK

Qualitative

Urban greenspace

Urban greenspace can promote wellbeing, pleasure, joy and restoration

Risbeth and Finney (2005) UK

Qualitative

Outdoors

The outdoors has educational value (about host country). It offers a glimpse of pleasurable aspects of life in the host city

Rishbeth and Powell (2013) UK

Qualitative

Outdoor spaces/landscapes

Outdoor spaces offer opportunities for embodiment and restorative routines. They also facilitate feeling of security, comfort in social and personal identities, and wellbeing

Sastre and Haldeman (2015) US

Qualitative

Home garden

Home gardens can improve food security, dietary habits, physical activity, and mental health. Participants used pre-migration skills

Seeland, Dübendorfer and Hansmann (2009) Switzerland

Mixed methods

Public green space

Public green spaces are ideal places for making new friends (in children)

Silveirinha De Oliveira (2011) Portugal

Mixed methods

Natural public open spaces

Natural public spaces facilitate relaxation, socialization and wellbeing. The experiences are mediated by the migratory experience (e.g., as a choice or displacement)

Spalding (2011) Panama

Mixed methods

Landscape and natural environment

Nature can be a migratory pulling factor due to an “in tune with nature” lifestyle

Stapleton, Erin (2009) Canada

Mixed Methods

Provincial parks

Provincial parks offer recreational activities, physical, emotional and spiritual benefits, and help to fulfill newcomers’ spiritual needs

Stodolska (2002) Canada

Multi-method

Outdoor recreation activities

Outdoor recreation is a commonly discontinued type of leisure that can affect psychological and emotional wellbeing and family relations

Stodolska, Peters and Horolets (2017) US, Netherlands, Germany and Poland

Qualitative

Natural environments

Natural environments can reduce acculturative stress and daily stress; improve psychological and mental wellbeing, and quality of life

Stodolska, Peters and Horolets (2017) US, Netherlands, Germany and Poland

Qualitative

Natural environments

Time in nature can be beneficial to newcomers who struggle with settlement, stress or isolation

Stoetzer (2011) Germany

Qualitative

Urban nature

Urban nature are economic spaces where immigrants can find livelihoods. Participation foster sense of control

Strunk and Richardson (2019) US

Qualitative

Gardens

Gardens facilitate transgenerational transfer of knowledge, and the development and practice of skills and confidence that can permeate to other areas of life

Thompson, Corkery and Judd (2007) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Participants of community gardens accounted for improvements in general health and wellbeing, community and social life, and reduction of depressive symptoms

Walker (2018) US

Qualitative

Landscape and natural environment

Natural environments offer opportunities for restoration. Socioeconomic elements mediate access and benefits of nature

Weltin and Lavin (2012) US

Mixed methods

Community garden

Participation in community gardens increased cardiovascular exercise, fruit and vegetable intake, access to healthy food, decrease of glycohemoglobin (HgA1c), and increased diabetic control

Wen Li, Hodgetts and Ho (2010) New Zealand

Qualitative

Domestic garden

In seniors, domestic gardens enhance sense of control, independence, autonomy, availability of cultural food and the feeling of “being needed”

  1. *We report the type of natural environments as identified in the included articles

Appendix 3: Physical activity

Authors, Year, Country

Method

Type of natural environment*

Findings

Baek (2013) US

Mixed methods

Park-based Physical physical Activityactivity

Caucasian park-users spent a greater proportion of their park time performing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity compared to Korean immigrants

Boyd (2012) US

Qualitative

Green space (watershed)

Green spaces facilitate physical activity opportunities. Mental health benefits of green exercise were mentioned

Das, Fan and French (2017) US

Qualitative

Parks

Parks are perceived to offer exercise opportunities

Hartwig and Mason (2016) US

Mixed methods

Community garden

Gardening is a type of physical activity

Höglhammer, Muhar and Stokowski (2019) Austria

Qualitative

Peri-urban protected areas

Walks in nature are common in peri-urban protected areas. However for some ethnic groups, the idea of performing physical activity in nature is uncommon

Hung (2003) Canada

Qualitative

Wilderness recreation

The higher mainstream acculturated group showed more participation in physically demanding activities than the lower mainstream acculturated group

Hurly (2019) Canada

Qualitative

Nature-based leisure

Nature-based leisure facilitate physical activity and fitness

Jay and Schraml (2009) Germany

Qualitative

Urban woodlands

Walking and sport activities are common when using woodlands. However, there are gender and ethnic differences in activities performed

Kloek, Buijs, Boersema, Schouten (2015) Netherlands

Quantitative

Outdoor recreation participation

Sport/health as main motivation for outdoor recreation was higher among non-immigrants. The difference between immigrants and non-immigrants on sport/health as their primary motivation for outdoor recreation was statistically significant compared to immigrant groups

Lindsay, et al. (2019) US

Qualitative

Outdoors

Park use facilitates physical activity (in children)

Lovelock et al. (2012) New Zealand

Quantitative

Nature-based recreation

Exercise was described as a benefit of nature-based recreation

Marconnot, et al. (2019) Spain

Qualitative

Natural environment

Lack of access to infrastructure and insecurity were barriers to outdoor physical activity (in children)

Rothe et al. (2010) US

Qualitative

Outdoors

Outdoor physical activity decreased in winter due to weather and safety concerns (in Youth)

Silveirinha De Oliveira (2011) Portugal

Mixed methods

Natural public open spaces

Reduced physical activity after migration and barriers to exercise in natural public space due to regulations

Thompson, Corkery and Judd (2007) Australia

Qualitative

Community garden

Community gardens offer physical exercise critical to the maintenance of good physical health in participants

Tong, Sims Gould and McKay (2018) Canada

Mixed methods

Gardening

Gardening is a common ‘non-exercise’ physical activity in older adults

  1. *We report the type of natural environments as identified in the included articles

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Charles-Rodriguez, U., Venegas de la Torre, M.D.L.P., Hecker, V. et al. The Relationship Between Nature and Immigrants’ Integration, Wellbeing and Physical Activity: A Sco** Review. J Immigrant Minority Health 25, 190–218 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01339-3

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