Kathrin Röderer

Are nature lovers happy? On various indicators of well-being and connectedness with nature

Connectedness with nature (CN) is seen as a personal disposition relevant for environmental as well as human health. In five questionnaire studies (N = 547) we systematically investigated the relationship between various operationalizations of well-being and CN. CN was assessed with two different tools in parallel. All significant correlations were controlled for the effects of age and gender. Psychological well-being, meaningfulness and vitality were found to be robustly correlated with CN. We highlight the relevance of CN with respect to human health and further discuss conceptual differences unraveled by the concurrent application of two CN-tools.

The Restorative Effects of Redesigning the Schoolyard A Multi-Methodological, Quasi-Experimental Study in Rural Austrian Middle Schools

Contact with nature can have numerous beneficial effects for children. As the school is a place where children spend a lot of time, the physical environment of the school has considerable potential to influence children. This study investigated the influence of a redesign (greening) of a schoolyard on pupils’ physiological stress, psychological well-being, and executive functioning. A pre–post, quasi-experimental design with a multimethod approach was applied. One-hundred thirty-three middle school pupils (M = 14.4 years) of three middle schools in a rural area in Austria were assessed. The renovated schoolyard significantly diminished pupils’ physiological stress levels and enhanced their psychological well-being. Pupils in the renovated schoolyard setting also perceived the environment as more restorative following the redesign. However, it did not affect executive functioning as hypothesized. Limitations of the study and future research opportunities are discussed.

Contextualise! personalise! persuade!: a mobile HCI framework for behaviour change support systems

This paper presents a context-aware, personalised, persuasive (CPP) system design framework applicable to the sustainable transport field and other behaviour change support system domains. It operates on a situational, a user, and a target behaviour layer. Emphasis is placed on interlinking each layers behaviour change factors for greater effectiveness. A prototype CPP system for more sustainable travel behaviour is introduced to demonstrate how the framework can be applied in practice.

From Bottom-up Insights to Feature Ideas: A Case Study into the Office Environments of Older Knowledge Workers

Given recent demographic changes, adapting the office environments of older knowledge workers to their needs has become increasingly important in supporting an extension of working life. In this paper, we present a case study research of older knowledge workers in Romania, with the goal of gaining bottom-up insights that support the ideation, design, and development of features for a smart work environment. Utilizing a multi-method approach, we combine (1) contextual interviews and observations, (2) an analysis of needs and frictions for deriving insights, (3) an ideation workshop for eliciting potential features, (4) an online survey among experts for evaluating the final feature ideas, and (5) early stage prototyping of selected feature ideas. Following this comprehensive yet efficient approach, we were able to gain a rich understanding of the work realities and contexts of older knowledge workers and to transform that understanding into a concrete set of prioritized feature ideas.