Work in nature: An opportunity for social reconnection for female community sentenced offenders?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18552/aprj.v1i1.122Keywords:
trauma, social connectedness, nature connectedness, hyper-arousal.Abstract
Abstract
Objective: To explore connectedness to the natural and social worlds across three female-only groups, offenders, non-offenders and nature lovers.
Design: A mixed methods questionnaire survey design exploring the extent to which group members differed on self rated social and natural connectedness was employed. The constructs of connectedness to nature and social connectedness were predicted to correlate.
Methods: 630 participants completed a four part survey. The survey included demographic details, a nature connectedness scale, a social connectedness scale and a qualitative question asking participants to reflect on how they felt when in nature.
Results: Analysis revealed significant differences between the groups in terms of their self rated connectedness to nature and to the social world. Nature lovers were found to be more connected to both the natural and social worlds than either of the other two groups. Offenders were found to be less connected to both the natural and social worlds than either of the other two groups. A correlational analysis revealed a positive correlation between connectedness to nature and social connectedness suggesting that the stronger an individual’s connectedness to nature, the stronger their connection to the social world.
Conclusions: The findings were discussed in the context of social connectedness theory. Future applications of the findings to work with female offenders were also mooted. Future research exploring the possibility that the ability to connect is mediated by levels of physiological arousal and anxiety has been proposed.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).