Nature-Based Interventions for Bereavement Care: A Scoping Review Protocol

This paper is a scoping review protocol that lays out a plan for investigating how nature-based activities can help people cope with grief after losing a loved one. The authors recognize that grief affects people emotionally, physically, and mentally, and that connecting with nature—such as through gardening, animal-assisted therapy, or forest walks—has been linked to improved well-being. Because this field is still growing, the researchers want to understand what kinds of nature-based programs are being used to support people who are grieving and what theories explain how these programs help.

The review will include studies of bereaved individuals who participated in nature-based interventions and will look at the methods, outcomes, and theoretical explanations used. The ultimate goal is to map the existing evidence to see how nature might play a helpful role in grieving, and to guide future research and practice. This protocol sets up a rigorous plan for collecting and organizing data from a wide range of sources.

Cleary, A., Dean, J., Pollock, D. et al. (2022). Nature-based interventions for bereavement care: A scoping review protocol. JBI Evid Synth., 20(5), 1344-1352