■虽然以前的工作强调了自然与各种积极的福祉相关结果之间的联系,自闭症患者在自然界中的经历受到的实证研究有限。我们的研究旨在收集自闭症成年人对童年和成年期自然与幸福之间关系的看法。
■我们使用了一项在线调查来捕获英国127名自闭症成年人的观点。使用反身性主题分析,我们分析了对三个问题的回答,这些问题的重点是儿童和成年期的自然经历,以及参与者如何认为自然与幸福相关(或不相关).以自决理论为指导,我们使用了归纳和演绎分析。
■我们开发了三个主要主题来反映自闭症成年人的自然体验:选择逃入自然,通过连接(和连接)自然来支持亲密关系,自然不会判断,但其他人做。与许多其他背景相比,自然提供了一个非评判性的空间,通过这个空间(在童年和成年),但不是全部,自闭症个体可以满足个体需求并体验自主性,亲缘关系,和能力。
■对英国自闭症成年人如何利用自然来支持福祉的分析,对如何将自然用于社会处方以及确保现有的户外空间具有重要意义。组织,和活动支持自闭症患者。
为什么这是一个重要的问题?自闭症成年人的心理健康和整体幸福感通常比神经典型成年人差。由于一些自闭症成年人对自然非常感兴趣,并且经常报告说他们在自然中度过一段时间后感觉更好,在室外进行的自然空间和活动可能是改善自闭症成年人福祉的一种方式。这项研究的目的是什么?关于自闭症成年人如何体验自然的研究很少,尽管一些自闭症患者写了他们的经历。这项研究的目的是了解自闭症患者如何体验自然以及自然如何有益于他们的福祉。研究人员做了什么?我们创建了一项调查,询问了26个关于自闭症成年人如何体验自然的问题。这项调查包括关于他们访问大自然的频率的问题,如果他们对自然有兴趣,自然是否以及如何与他们的幸福有关,和童年的自然体验。围绕三个问题,我们使用反身主题分析(一种识别数据模式的方法)来开发三个主题。研究的结果是什么?我们开发的三个主题是:选择逃入大自然,通过连接(和连接)自然来支持亲密关系,自然不会判断,但其他人做。这些主题说明了自闭症成年人体验自然的不同方式。对一些人来说,自然是一种与他人联系和更深入地与自己联系的方式。自然也是逃避不友善的人的一种方式,从不舒服的情况中,以及生活中的其他压力。许多自闭症参与者报告说,大自然对他们的福祉有帮助,因为他们从自然空间和生物中经历了较少的判断——尽管其他人有时是评判性的,这使得自然体验变得更糟。这些发现对已经知道的东西有什么补充?这些发现证实了先前的研究,表明许多自闭症患者对自然有兴趣。这些发现不仅增加了关于自闭症患者在自然界中的感受的众多现有轶事,而且还展示了各种各样的观点。在这项研究中,并非所有自闭症参与者都认为自然对他们的福祉有益。这项研究的潜在弱点是什么?不幸的是,调查仅适用于有Wi-Fi/互联网接入的人,可以使用电脑或电话,并有时间完成调查。这项调查也可能吸引了对这个主题特别感兴趣的参与者,这可能会影响调查结果。这些发现将如何帮助现在或将来的自闭症成年人?这些发现将帮助自闭症成年人,从业者,和照顾者确定支持福祉的潜在来源。由于这项研究中的自闭症成年人利用自然来满足与他们的福祉相关的不同需求,自然空间和基于自然的活动可能有助于改善享受自然的自闭症成年人的福祉。
UNASSIGNED: While previous work highlights the links between nature and various positive well-being-related outcomes, the experiences of autistic people in nature have received limited empirical research. Our study aimed at gathering autistic adults\' perspectives on the relationship between nature and well-being in both childhood and adulthood.
UNASSIGNED: We used an online survey to capture the views of 127 autistic adults across the United Kingdom. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we analyzed responses to three questions focused on nature experiences in childhood and adulthood and how the participants felt that nature was (or was not) related to well-being. Guided by self-determination theory, we used both inductive and deductive analysis.
UNASSIGNED: We developed three main themes to reflect the nature experiences of autistic adults: choosing to escape into nature, supporting relatedness through connecting in (and to) nature, and nature doesn\'t judge, but other people do. Compared with many other contexts, nature provides a non-judgmental space through which (in both childhood and adulthood) many, but not all, autistic individuals can meet individual needs and experience autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
UNASSIGNED: This analysis of how autistic adults in the United Kingdom utilize nature to support well-being has implications for how nature can be used in social prescribing as well as in ensuring that existing outdoor spaces, organizations, and activities are supportive of autistic people.
Why is this an important issue? Autistic adults often experience poorer mental health and overall well-being than neurotypical adults. Since some autistic adults are very interested in nature and often report that they feel better after spending time in nature, natural spaces and activities taking place outside could be one way of improving well-being for autistic adults. What was the purpose of this study? There is very little research on how autistic adults experience nature, although some autistic people have written about their experiences. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of how autistic people experience nature and how nature might benefit their well-being. What did the researchers do? We created a survey that asked 26 questions about how autistic adults experience nature. This survey included questions about how often they visited nature, if they had a focused interest in nature, whether and how nature was related to their well-being, and childhood experiences of nature. Focusing on three of the questions, we used reflexive thematic analysis (a way of identifying patterns in data) to develop three themes. What were the results of the study? The three themes we developed were: choosing to escape into nature, supporting relatedness through connecting in (and to) nature, and nature doesn\'t judge, but other people do. These themes illustrate the different ways that autistic adults experienced nature. For some, nature was a way of relating to others and relating more deeply with themselves. Nature was also a way of escaping from people who were unkind, from situations that were uncomfortable, and from other stresses in life. Many autistic participants reported that nature was helpful to their well-being, because they experienced less judgment from natural spaces and creatures—though other people were sometimes judgmental, which made nature experiences worse. What do these findings add to what was already known? These findings confirm previous research showing that many autistic people have focused interests in nature. The findings not only add to the numerous existing anecdotal accounts about how autistic people feel in nature but also demonstrate a diverse range of perspectives. Not all autistic participants in this study felt that nature was beneficial to their well-being. What are the potential weaknesses of the study? Unfortunately, surveys are only accessible to people who have Wi-Fi/internet access, can use a computer or phone, and have the time to complete the survey. The survey might also have drawn in participants who were specifically interested in this topic, which might influence the findings. How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future? These findings will help autistic adults, practitioners, and carers to identify a potential source of support for well-being. As autistic adults in this study used nature to meet different needs related to their well-being, natural space and nature-based activities may help improve well-being in autistic adults who enjoy nature.