Impact of window view green visual ratio on people's mental health during pandemic: A study in Hefei

Background Urban green space may potentially affect people's mental health.

Objective This study evaluates the effect of urban green space on people's mental health during the coronavirus pandemic, and explores the health benefits of urban green space.

Methods In March 2020, permanent residents of 107 residential areas in Hefei were investigated by online questionnaire survey. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was employed to assess the mental health status of the participants, and a higher score of the scale indicated worse mental health status. The green visual ratio of window views of the participants' residences was quantified by artificial visual interpretation, and the daily viewing time of green space outside windows was also acquired by questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression analysis.

Results A total of 396 valid online questionnaires were obtained. There were 215 females (54.29%); the age distributions were 1.52% under 18 years, 17.68% at 18-23 years, 30.30% at 24-29 years, 44.44% at 30-50 years, and 6.06% over 50 years. The overall score of mental health was 22.19±7.16. The window view green visual ratio was (28.9±8.9)%, ranging from 14.1% to 49.8%. Regarding the time of watching green space outside windows every day, 24.24% of the participants spent less than 15 min, 17.43% did 15-30 min, 14.90% did 31-45 min, 25.25% did 46-60 min, and 18.18% did more than 60 min. The results of one-way analysis of variance showed significant differences in the score of mental health among groups with different green visual ratios and with different time of watching green space outside windows (P<0.01). The Pearson correlation analysis results showed that the green visual ratio (r=-0.466) and the time of watching green space outside windows (r=-0.833) were negatively correlated with mental health scores. The multiple linear regression analysis results showed that green visual ratio (b=-13.531, P<0.05) and the time of watching green space outside windows (b=-3.720, P<0.05) were the protective factors of mental health.

Conclusion During the outbreak, the residents with higher window view green visual ratios and longer daily viewing time of green space show better mental health.