Work in nature: An opportunity for social reconnection for female community sentenced offenders?

Abstract Objective : To explore connectedness to the natural and social worlds across three female-only groups, offenders, non-offenders and nature lovers. Design: A mixed methods questionnaire survey design exploring the extent to which group members differed on self rated social and natural connectedness was employed. The constructs of connectedness to nature and social connectedness were predicted to correlate. Methods: 630 participants completed a four part survey. The survey included demographic details, a nature connectedness scale, a social connectedness scale and a qualitative question asking participants to reflect on how they felt when in nature. Results: Analysis revealed significant differences between the groups in terms of their self rated connectedness to nature and to the social world. Nature lovers were found to be more connected to both the natural and social worlds than either of the other two groups. Offenders were found to be less connected to both the natural and social worlds than either of the other two groups. A correlational analysis revealed a positive correlation between connectedness to nature and social connectedness suggesting that the stronger an individual’s connectedness to nature, the stronger their connection to the social world. Conclusions: The findings were discussed in the context of social connectedness theory. Future applications of the findings to work with female offenders were also mooted. Future research exploring the possibility that the ability to connect is mediated by levels of physiological arousal and anxiety has been proposed.