Virtual Nature and PERMA
Description
The aim of this paper was to see if there is a difference between the well-being of young adults between the ages of 17 to 20 years of age who are exposed to virtual nature and those who are not. This comparison study was conducted on individuals who had not been diagnosed with any psychological disorder. The study group of 30 participants were given wallpapers for their devices displaying nature, while the comparison group of 30 participants was given neutral wallpapers for a period of one month and weekly meetings involving a nature-walk video was shown to the study group and a neutral video was shown to the comparison group. The set-up involved four sessions in total; in the first and the last sessions, they took the PERMA profiler test. As per the results derived from that, the hypotheses of the study were proven correct, i.e. there is no significant effect of exposure to virtual nature on well-being.
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Non-probability convenience sampling was used to target population and find the suitable participants for the study, which were students pursuing their undergraduate in Bangalore, within the age group of 17 to 20 years old, male or female. Inclusion Criteria ● Should be in the age group of 17 to 20 years old ● Should be currently enrolled in a UG programme ● Should own a smartphone and a laptop ● Should be able to read and write in english Exclusion Criteria ● Current or past diagnoses with any mental health disorders ● Colour blindness ● Being on any medications which might affect their psychological well-being A total of 106 responses were received via online google forms, which were then screened and 60 participants in total were selected for the study and distrubed to the study and comparison groups at random. The research was based on a pre-test and post-test comparison study design which was conducted on two groups - a study group and a comparison group. The independent variable is their exposure to virtual greenery, which was manipulated by the experimenters. The dependent variable is the categories defined as under PERMA. For the comparison group, the participants were introduced to a neutral patterned wallpaper (which had colours such as beige or white). The extraneous variables that might have affected the results were their location of stay (whether it’s an area filled with greenery or not) and any other such life events as may occur. Procedure Announcements about the study were made via social media, and screening forms were shared with the interested individuals from the 106 received responses after the screening of the participants, a total of 60 participants were taken in and divided into two groups of 30 each, the comparison group and the study group. The study group was exposed to virtual greenery via wallpaper on all their electronic devices, and weekly intervention of nature-walk video over the period of one month. Whereas the comparison group was exposed to a neutral wallpaper and a video with a white moving background over the period of one month. The subjects were administered using the mentioned tool twice, once before the introduction of the variables and then after one month of exposure to the variables. The tool was administered via paper and pen, which was then put in the online PERMA questionnaire by the researchers, and the data was recorded in an excel sheet. The data collected from pre and post intervention was compared for results using independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test.