Window Views of Nature

Healthcare workers experience high levels of stress and burnout, yet most research on nature exposure in healthcare settings has focused on patient outcomes rather than employees. This project examined whether gaining a window view of nature at work improves job satisfaction, stress, and mental health among healthcare workers.

The study evaluated the impact of a natural experiment- Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network’s relocation from an urban facility to a new site surrounded by woodlands. Employees completed surveys before the relocation and at follow-up periods afterward, reporting on their work environment, job satisfaction, stress, burnout, and mental and physical health. Workers who gained window views of nature were compared with those whose views did not change.

Employees who gained nature views reported higher satisfaction with their window views. However, these changes were not associated with consistent improvements in job satisfaction, stress, burnout, or health outcomes, either shortly after the move or one year later. The findings suggest that while healthcare workers value access to nature, passive exposure alone may be insufficient to meaningfully improve wellbeing.

However, detailed cross sectional analysis conducted on window views of nature and perceptions of workplace environments, and on the effect of these perceptions on job-related and health-related outcomes demonstrated positive outcomes. Those with window views of nature were more likely to report that their workplace environment helped them to focus, were beautiful and helped them to feel connected to the organization. Further, we found that participants who perceived their workplace environments as being 1) supportive of their ability to focus, 2) beautiful, and 3) supportive of their feeling of connectedness, respectively, had higher job satisfaction, greater work ability, and perceived higher workplace supportiveness; these participants also reported less anxiety, depression, and stress.