Feelings of disconnectedness and social isolation among older adults are increasingly recognised as important challenges of our times. Interestingly, nature interaction can stimulate social connectedness and enhance perceived social support, indicating that nature can contribute to social wellbeing. …

OBJECTIVE: Loneliness and social isolation are pressing issues that can seriously impact the mental health and well-being of older adults. Interacting with nature can stimulate a feeling of connectedness. However, for older adults, access to nature is often troublesome because of physical limitations …

Promoting healthy and active lifestyles is an important objective for many governing agencies. The design of active urban environments can be an effective tool to encourage more active behaviors and water features can attract people, improving their experience of the urban space. To explore the potential …

Background: Parents of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) have extensive care duties. This study describes the phenomenon “parenting a child with PIMD.” Method: We conducted in-depth interviews with 25 Dutch parents. A reflective lifeworld research. Findings: The …

Increasing flexibilisation and personalisation of education creates challenges in terms of students’ social connectedness with each other, with the programme and with lecturers. For this reason, a team of researchers and professors from four universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands carried …

Many young people in the Netherlands participate in voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) but stop once they become adults. VSCs lack the ability to transition their youth members to adult members, which threatens the size of the clubs in terms of membership, the income, and the availability of volunteers. This …

The purpose of the project was to increase the daily activities and exercises of single-living older people with one or more limitations in functioning after a period of rehabilitation.

Digital nature can provide a substitute for real nature for those who have limited access to green space, or are confined to their homes, for example during the worldwide COVID-19 lockdown. In a large-scale online survey, respondents (N = 1203) watched videos of digital nature, varying in terms of type …

Loneliness and social isolation are increasingly recognized as important challenges of our times. Inspired by research hinting at beneficial effects of interacting with nature on social connectedness and opportunities provided by ambient technology to simulate nature in a rich and engaging manner, this …

By having a healthy and happy social life, social needs are fulfilled. When social needs are not fulfilled, loneliness and social isolation can occur, which have negative consequences for one’s physical and mental health. Social technology, technology that enables social interaction, can be a resource …