Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Within the field of social work there is a growing body of knowledge concerning the importance of holding a holistic perspective, integrating the natural environment and the human – environment interplay within practice. Several theories and perspectives from the field of environmental
psychology may provide social work practice and research with a clearer rational of the importance of integrating human- environment interplay as an important aspect of concern for the field. This study aims at exploring the possible connections between social work and environmental
psychology through the relations, experiences and meanings the outdoor environment, particularly nature, may have within the process of recovery related to Problem Substance Use (PSU). Through an interpretative phenomenological perspective and a pluralistic qualitative methodological
approach, a two-set step of semi-structured interviews, both indoors and as go-along interviews outdoors, have been performed with participants holding experiences of being within recovery related to PSU and/ or from working within the field. Selected theories from the field of
environmental psychology are being merged into a theoretical base, such as slow and fast processes of sensing a place, interactional processes of place attachment and mechanisms of interplay between recovery and place, to support the research process and discussion of the results. This study explores understandings of the human-environment interplay within recovery, and the results point at that an
outdoor environment that are perceived as safe and accessible may support and bring meaning to the process of recovery in multiple ways. For example, by providing space for physical, existential and emotional movement that may support new understandings and sense of self as well as support the creation of new routines and structures. Additionally, an increased sensory awareness that may
alter perception of present time and support an increased sensibility towards needs and emotions.
The study aligns with a large field of research regarding how the outdoor environment may support restoration and recovery from stress but adds on by exploring personal experiences of relations to the outdoor environment during processes of recovery related to problem substance use.