Helping People Connect with Nature and the Community Reduces Loneliness

Nature-based social prescribing can help reduce loneliness among adults living in socioeconomically vulnerable urban areas, according to a trial conducted in Barcelona by the European RECETAS consortium. Loneliness decreased among all participants receiving nature-based social prescribing, but those experiencing greater loneliness and poorer emotional wellbeing at the start benefited more from the facilitated group intervention. The study, led by ISGlobal, an institution supported by “la Caixa” Foundation, and published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe, indicates that support could be tailored according to people's needs.

Loneliness is increasingly recognised as a major public health concern, with consequences for both physical and mental health. In Spain, around 20% of the population reports experiencing loneliness, while in Barcelona an estimated 100,000 people are affected.

Social prescribing seeks to address social and emotional needs by connecting people with resources and activities available in their communities. Nature-based social prescribing (NBSP) adds engagement with nature to this approach, for example through activities in parks, gardens or other natural spaces.

The EU-funded RECETAS project tested Friends in Nature (FiN), an intervention that combines contact with nature with peer support and facilitated group activities. “FiN combines strategies by building groups with peer support, providing social opportunities that are strengthened by experiences in nature, and by developing social skills,” says Laura Coll-Planas, first author of the study and current researcher at the University of Vic.

Two approaches to reconnect with nature and others

The trial recruited 320 adults aged 18 and over, experiencing loneliness from 12 socioeconomically vulnerable neighbourhoods in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Participants had a median age of approximately 63 years and 80% were women.

Half were assigned to the FiN programme, which consisted in meeting in small groups for 2 hours each week over nine weeks, accompanied by trained facilitators. Sessions combined group dynamics and peer support with outdoor activities in the local area, including visits to gardens, parks, riverways, coastal areas and cultural heritage sites. The activities were selected from a menu of neighbourhood-specific options developed with local stakeholders. The other half received a 30-minute motivational interview and information about nature-based activities available in their neighbourhood, which they could pursue independently.

Loneliness decreased across the study population by an average of 10.5% after three months, reaching a 16.8% reduction after one year, with no significant difference in loneliness between the two groups at three-months. The study also found no significant changes in health-related quality of life.

A closer analysis revealed an important difference according to participants' situation at the start of the study. Those with higher levels of loneliness and poorer emotional wellbeing benefited more from the facilitated FiN groups. In contrast, among those with less loneliness and better emotional wellbeing, the lighter-touch approach of an interview and signposting to local nature activities produced comparable reductions in loneliness.

Tailoring support to people's needs

The findings suggest that there may not be a single approach to tackling loneliness that works equally well for everyone. People experiencing greater emotional and social difficulties may need the additional peer support, group dynamics and facilitation offered by FiN, while others may benefit from simply being helped to identify and access opportunities already available in their communities.

The Barcelona results differ from those of another RECETAS trial conducted in Helsinki among frail older adults living in assisted-living facilities. In that study, the FiN intervention produced greater reductions in loneliness than the control group and improved several dimensions of health-related quality of life. The differences between the two populations reinforce the importance of adapting NBSP programmes to the needs and circumstances of the people they are designed to support.

The study has some limitations: most participants were women and the median age was around 63, which may limit how widely the findings can be generalised to men and younger adults. Nevertheless, for ISGlobal researcher and senior author of the study Jill Litt, “Our findings provide novel insights that will advance NBSP as a strategy to build community assets and improve social health in urban populations.” They also suggest that NBSP pathways can be more or less effective depending on people’s baseline needs.

The approach goes beyond viewing contact with nature as a passive health intervention, as Litt and colleagues explain in a Nature comment. By bringing people together around shared experiences in natural spaces, NBSP can create opportunities to form relationships, become more actively involved in one's community, and feel part of the natural world. This, Litt says, “is vital for generating the ingredients for a life well-lived - with purpose, belonging and meaning”.
 

Reference

Coll-Planas L, Masó-Aguado M, Briones-Buizassa L et al. Effectiveness of a nature-based social prescribing intervention on loneliness and health-related quality of life among vulnerable urban adults (RECETAS-BCN): an observer-blinded randomised controlled trial. 2026. The Lancet Regional Health Europe. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101821

Comment: Litt, J.S., Tate, W. & Chawla, L. We are nature: expanding theoretical foundations for nature and health research and practice. 2026. Nat. Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-026-00706-5