Importance of Urban Parks in Psychological Recovery: An Experiment with Young Adults from Poland

KOBYŁKA, AGATA; KORCZ, NATALIA

Importance of Urban Parks in Psychological Recovery: An Experiment with Young Adults from Poland

Quaestiones Geographicae

Volume 44 (2025): Issue 2 (June 2025)

By:

AGATA KOBYŁKA

and NATALIA KORCZ

Open Access

|Jul 2025

Figures & Tables

Location of the study site.
A – Poland, B – Lublin, C – experimental site (https://www.bdl.lasy.gov.pl/portal/mapy). The red dot indicates the area where the experiment took place. — Location of the study site. A – Poland, B – Lublin, C – experimental site (https://www.bdl.lasy.gov.pl/portal/mapy). The red dot indicates the area where the experiment took place.

Fig. 2.

Research procedure of the experiment. POMS – Profile of Mood States; PANAS – Positive and Negative Affect Scale; ROS – Restorative Outcome Scale; SVS – Subjective Vitality Scale

Locations where different parts of the survey took place.
First part of the survey – 1, second part of the survey – walking sites of groups A, B and C (https://www.bdl.lasy.gov.pl/portal/mapy). — Locations where different parts of the survey took place. First part of the survey – 1, second part of the survey – walking sites of groups A, B and C (https://www.bdl.lasy.gov.pl/portal/mapy).

Photos detailing the experimental site (taken by Natalia Korcz).

PCA – Principal component analysis.
A – walk along edge of park; B – walk by fountain; c – walk down city street; PANAS – Positive and Negative Affect Scale; ROS – Restorative Outcome Scale; SVS – Subjective Vitality Scale; TMD – Total Mood Disorder. — PCA – Principal component analysis. A – walk along edge of park; B – walk by fountain; c – walk down city street; PANAS – Positive and Negative Affect Scale; ROS – Restorative Outcome Scale; SVS – Subjective Vitality Scale; TMD – Total Mood Disorder.

Mean and SD of △PANAS measurements and the results of the ANOVA test and Tukey’s post hoc test_

Measures	A – walk along edge of park	B – walk by fountain	C – walk down city street	F	p
Measures	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	F	p
△PANAS positive	0.07 ± 0.78^ab	0.34 ± 0.80^b	–0.28 ± 0.77^a	4.84	0.010*
△PANAS negative	0.03 ± 0.74	–0.24 ± 1.00^b	0.15 ± 0.85^a	1.70	0.188

Measurement of sound levels, light levels and atmospheric pollutant concentrations during the experiment_

Group	Time	Level		Concentration measurement					AQI
		Sound	Light	PM1.0	PM2.5	PM10	HCHO	TVOc
		db	lx	μg · m⁻³	μg · m⁻³	μg · m⁻³	mg · m⁻³	mg · m⁻³
A	Before	56	149	18.50	30.70	39.70	0.037	0.098	Excellent
A	After	62	13,842	24.05	35.50	37.75	0.034	0.154	Good
B	Before	56	87	18.54	30.50	39.88	0.024	0.113	Excellent
B	After	59	9441	19.00	33.00	40.50	0.028	0.129	Excellent
C	Before	58	272	18.45	30.30	38.94	0.029	0.137	Excellent
	After	83	3330	23.60	41.67	51.00	0.050	0.227	Good

Mean and SD of △ROS and △SVS measurements and the results of the ANOVA test and Tukey’s post hoc test_

Measures	A – walk along edge of park	B – walk by fountain	C – walk down city street	F	p
Measures	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	F	p
△ROS	0.44 ± 1.42^a	1.25 ± 1.57^a	–0.63 ± 1.26^b	12.85	0.000*
△SVS	0.55 ± 1.48^a	0.94 ± 1.55^a	–0.64 ± 1.11^b	9.81	0.000*

Characteristics of the respondents_

Respondents		Percentage (%)	Mean age (years)
Group	A – walk along edge of city park	33.33	22.81
	B – walk by fountain in city park	38.71	21.36
	C – walk down city street	27.96	21.96
Gender	woman	41.94	21.90
Gender	man	58.06	22.09
Total		100.00	22.01

Mean and SD of △POMS scale measurements and the results of the ANOVA test and Tukey’s post hoc test_

Measures	A – walk along edge of park	B – walk by fountain	C – walk down city street	F	p
Measures	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	F	p
△Tension	–2.06 ± 6.51^a	–4.22 ± 9.00^a	3.15 ± 8.27^b	6.50	0.002*
△Depression	–0.65 ± 7.82^ab	–5.53 ± 15.06^a	6.35 ± 11.49^b	7.33	0.001*
△Anger	–1.26 ± 5.88^a	–3.94 ± 11.05^a	5.46 ± 10.04^b	7.86	0.000*
△Fatigue	–1.16 ± 5.25^ab	–4.94 ± 8.17^a	3.96 ± 5.90^b	13.35	0.000*
△confusion	–1.16 ± 4.87^ab	–3.92 ± 6.57^a	1.77 ± 5.56^b	7.37	0.001*
△Vigour	–2.58 ± 4.94^a	4.00 ± 5.95^a	–5.23 ± 6.76^b	20.38	0.000*
△TMD	–8.87 ± 31.26^a	–26.56 ± 47.55^a	25.92 ± 36.34^b	13.35	0.000*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2025-0012 | Journal eISSN: 2081-6383 | Journal ISSN: 2082-2103

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Language: English

Page range: 107 - 119

Submitted on: May 8, 2024

Accepted on: Nov 3, 2024

Published on: Jul 2, 2025

Published by: Adam Mickiewicz University

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

city park,

forest bathing,

psychological rehabilitation,

psychometric tests

Related subjects:

Geosciences,

Geography

© 2025 AGATA KOBYŁKA, NATALIA KORCZ, published by Adam Mickiewicz University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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Importance of Urban Parks in Psychological Recovery: An Experiment with Young Adults from Poland

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Mean and SD of △PANAS measurements and the results of the ANOVA test and Tukey’s post hoc test_

Measurement of sound levels, light levels and atmospheric pollutant concentrations during the experiment_

Mean and SD of △ROS and △SVS measurements and the results of the ANOVA test and Tukey’s post hoc test_

Characteristics of the respondents_

Mean and SD of △POMS scale measurements and the results of the ANOVA test and Tukey’s post hoc test_

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