Leva ett med naturen - “Dammråttor kan man ju ge namn åt om man vill”
Bodman, Ghita (2019-10-11)
Åbo Akademis förlag - Åbo Akademi University Press
11.10.2019
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-765-937-6
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-765-937-6
Tiivistelmä
Throughout history, nature has been an element in which humans have taken care of their health and wellbeing. In a period marked by urbanization and globalization, nature seems to have an important impact on human's ability to recover from stress.
This doctoral thesis studies the role of nature for human wellbeing from a salutogenic point of view. It is a qualitative study on how wellbeing and quality of life are experienced, as well as of the significance of nature and the local rural environment as health promoting factors.
The data material was gathered with in-depth interviews of sixteen respondents in the age span of 25-76 years. The interviews were combined with a visual method, that is, coloring a “Rug of Life”. The results were analysed with a version of visual grounded theory adapted to a salutogenic perspective.
Childhood has a crucial role in creating a relationship with nature. Parents and grandparents have an essential role in introducing nature to the children in their early childhood. This early relationship provides a basis for using nature as a restorative environment later in life. In other words, nature comes with the breast feeding.
In the data material two coping strategies to cope with stress in adulthood were found. One coping strategy is “Back to nature”, where the respondents have moved from urban alienation and loneliness to the place of their childhood memories, the rural village. The strategy is accompanied by the general resistant resource social relations, and it is characterized by a need to downshift from a hectic urban life to a tranquil environment remembered from childhood. This environment is promising the respondents freedom to take care of themselves, and to live a life here and now with nature and with the seasons, which give a sense of presence in life.
In the other coping strategy “Roots in the soil”, respondents have chosen to stay in the rural environment where they have grown up. With the general resistant resource heritage, they have a feeling of safety with a sense of belonging and solidarity (coherence) coupled to a simple life. They also have chosen a certain solitude in which they can be their authentic selves and where they have time to reflect, relatively independent of modern impulses. Here, they feel closeness to nature which enable them to take care of their health.
The research suggests that the environment where children spend a significant part their life has an effect on the environments which they find restorative later in life. In the rural pantry, with nature in the nearby corner, general resistant resources which promote comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness are found. This gives a sense of coherence.
To move from a densely populated area with a feeling of loneliness to a sparsely populated area with a sense of presence and to live in a "modern version of the basics" gives a quality of life. Nature has assets to promote health and to prevent illness. Nature is a setting where to recover and a setting which easily integrates into daily life.
This doctoral thesis studies the role of nature for human wellbeing from a salutogenic point of view. It is a qualitative study on how wellbeing and quality of life are experienced, as well as of the significance of nature and the local rural environment as health promoting factors.
The data material was gathered with in-depth interviews of sixteen respondents in the age span of 25-76 years. The interviews were combined with a visual method, that is, coloring a “Rug of Life”. The results were analysed with a version of visual grounded theory adapted to a salutogenic perspective.
Childhood has a crucial role in creating a relationship with nature. Parents and grandparents have an essential role in introducing nature to the children in their early childhood. This early relationship provides a basis for using nature as a restorative environment later in life. In other words, nature comes with the breast feeding.
In the data material two coping strategies to cope with stress in adulthood were found. One coping strategy is “Back to nature”, where the respondents have moved from urban alienation and loneliness to the place of their childhood memories, the rural village. The strategy is accompanied by the general resistant resource social relations, and it is characterized by a need to downshift from a hectic urban life to a tranquil environment remembered from childhood. This environment is promising the respondents freedom to take care of themselves, and to live a life here and now with nature and with the seasons, which give a sense of presence in life.
In the other coping strategy “Roots in the soil”, respondents have chosen to stay in the rural environment where they have grown up. With the general resistant resource heritage, they have a feeling of safety with a sense of belonging and solidarity (coherence) coupled to a simple life. They also have chosen a certain solitude in which they can be their authentic selves and where they have time to reflect, relatively independent of modern impulses. Here, they feel closeness to nature which enable them to take care of their health.
The research suggests that the environment where children spend a significant part their life has an effect on the environments which they find restorative later in life. In the rural pantry, with nature in the nearby corner, general resistant resources which promote comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness are found. This gives a sense of coherence.
To move from a densely populated area with a feeling of loneliness to a sparsely populated area with a sense of presence and to live in a "modern version of the basics" gives a quality of life. Nature has assets to promote health and to prevent illness. Nature is a setting where to recover and a setting which easily integrates into daily life.