Meaningful and Purposeful Occupations Enhance Identity and Improve Well-Being, 2024-2025

Nature-based interventions (NBIs) describe several pathways that enhance mental well-being. These include nature engagement, socialisation and physical activity; however, research demonstrates conflicting results in their effectiveness. Further mechanisms to well-being that remain less explored in NBI literature include experiencing a destigmatised identity, gaining responsibility, helping other people, and experiencing meaning and purpose in life. Through the integration of occupational therapy techniques and established psychological theory, namely the model of human occupation, social identity theory and logotherapy, this research aimed to increase the meaning and purpose of the activities presented in a NBI in a design that allowed the service users to become contributors to the well-being of a vulnerable population in their community. Through a mixed methods approach including psychometric measures, focus groups, and heart rate variability (HRV), the results of this study reveal that participants experienced an increase in mental well-being, self-esteem, meaning in life and purpose in life. The change in meaning in life and purpose in life scores from pre-post intervention significantly predicted the change in mental well-being [F(2,17) = 5.98 p = 0.011]. HRV results showed that becoming a contributor of social aid had a statistically significant effect on mean heart rate, and the SD and RMS of the R-R intervals. Furthermore, through engagement in an occupational role that allowed the participants to go from being recipients of social aid to providers of social aid, the focus groups revealed that participants felt an enhanced social identity with a sense of feeling needed and being of value.