An Extended Replication Study of the Well-Being Intervention, the Noticing Nature Intervention (NNI)

The current study is an expanded replication study examining the efficacy of a modified version of Passmore and Holder’s (2017) nature-based well-being intervention, the Noticing Nature Intervention (NNI). Undergraduates (N = 173) from a university in China were randomly assigned to engage in the NNI for 2 weeks (i.e., pay attention to, and provide a brief description of, how the everyday nature you encounter makes you feel) or to engage in one of two active control conditions. Both quantitative and qualitative findings replicated previous results. At the end of the 2-week intervention, compared to control groups, participants who engaged in the NNI reported significantly higher levels of well-being and significantly lower levels of ill-being (ds from 0.41 to 0.69). As in the 2017 study, these well-being benefits were not moderated by trait levels of connectedness to nature. Further replicating the 2017 results, these well-being benefits were not a function of the NNI group spending significantly more time in nature (ds = 0.05–0.07,); rather, boosts to well-being and reduction of ill-being were the result merely of paying attention to the everyday nature participants encountered in their daily routines. Analysis of qualitative findings revealed that positive emotions were significantly more likely to be reported by participants in the NNI condition (z = 6.5), while negative emotions were significantly less likely to be reported by those in the NNI condition (z = −7.3). This research provides further empirical support for the Noticing Nature Intervention as an effective well-being intervention.