Interactions with coastal nature and health outcomes: a Bayesian mindsponge analysis on Belgian visitors

Abstract

Coastal environments are widely recognized as valuable public health resources and therapeutic landscapes. However, limited research has examined how specific forms of direct interactions with coastal natural environments are associated with health outcomes. This study investigates the associations between the frequency of participating in direct interactions with coastal natural environments and health outcomes among visitors to the Belgian coast in the previous year. Applying the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics on a dataset of 1,939 survey responses, the study reveals substantial heterogeneity in these relationships. The findings can be categorized into three groups. The first group comprises activities that are positively associated with both mental and general health, including walking on the beach and participating in beach sports. The second group includes activities that are negatively associated with both health outcomes, namely spending time on the beach and searching for shells. The third group consists of activities that show no consistent pattern of association, either because their relationships with both health outcomes are ambiguous or because they are associated with only one dimension of health. These activities include observing wild animals or plants, watching sunsets, seagoing, engaging in water sports (e.g., surfing, swimming, sailing, and kayaking), and mountain biking. These findings suggest the importance of targeted coastal management strategies that enhance the therapeutic benefits of blue spaces and recognize that health outcomes may vary according to the type of coastal activity undertaken. They also point to the need for further research to clarify the mechanisms underlying the observed associations.