Published in 2026

Main results from Helsinki and Melbourne:

• Kaisu H Pitkälä, Laura Rautiainen, Hannu Kautiainen, Ulla L Aalto, Annika Kolster, Marja-Liisa Laakkonen, Timo Partonen, Hanna-Maria Roitto, Sibylle Puntscher, Ursula Rochau, Uwe Siebert, Alzbeta Bartova, Iva Holmerová, Laura Coll-Planas, Jill S Litt, Timo Strandberg, Anu H Jansson Effectiveness of nature-based group intervention in loneliness and health-related quality-of-life in lonely older adults living in assisted living facilities a randomised controlled trial Age and Ageing, Volume 55, Issue 2, February 2026, afag009, https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afag009
• Nerkez Opacin, Katherine Johnson, Nicholas Hill, Alba Morato, Ian Seal, Jill Litt, Sarah Bekessy, Reimagining health care and social connection with asylum seekers and refugees through contextually grounded nature-based social interventions, Science Direct – Wellbeing, Space and Society, Volume 10, 2026, 100409, ISSN 2666-5581, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2026.100409

Protocols, Descriptive, Secondary Analysis, and Social Return on Investment Results:

• Papon, V., Puntscher, S., Arvandi, M. et al. Protocol for the health economic evaluation of nature-based social prescribing against loneliness alongside the RECETAS trials. BMC Public Health 26, 2001 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-27698-2
• Annika Kolster, MD Supporting health and wellbeing through nature-based interventions in primary care. Thesis – (University of Helsinki)
• Kaisu H Pitkala  et. Al. Effects of Nature-based Group Intervention on Cognition and Nature Connectedness Among Lonely Older Adults Living in Assisted Living Facilities-Secondary Analyses of an RCT, J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2026 Apr 10:106203.
• Laura J. Rautiainen, Anu H. Jansson, Ulla L. Aalto, Hannu Kautiainen, Marja-Liisa Laakkonen, Hanna-Maria Roitto, Timo E. Strandberg , Aina Carbó Cardeña, Laura Coll-Planas, Jill S. Litt, Annika Kolster, Kaisu H. Pitkälä Loneliness, social inactivity and social isolation of older adults in assisted living facilities, Experimental Gerontology, Volume 218, 2026, 113119, ISSN 0531-5565, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2026.113119.
• Sibylle Puntscher, Igor Stojkov, Marjan Arvandi, Felicitas Kühne, Annette Conrads-Frank, Veronika Papon, Daniela Schmid, Beate Jahn, Erica A. Suzumura, Richard Kimberlee, Matthew Jones, Kaisu H. Pitkälä, Anu H. Jansson, Jill S. Litt, Uwe Siebert & Ursula Rochau Systematic literature review of economic studies on nature-based social prescribing for health improvement BMC Prim. Care 27, 150 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-026-03258-w
• Ursula Rochau, Veronika Papon, Igor Stojkov, Felicitas Kuehne, Marjan Arvandi, Annette Conrads-Frank, Daniela Schmid, Beate Jahn, Júlia Santamaria Navarro, Erica Aranha Suzumura, Richard Kimberlee, Kaisu H. Pitkälä, Laura Coll-Planas, Jill S. Litt, Uwe Siebert, Sibylle Puntscher Systematic Literature Review of Decision-Analytic Modeling Studies on Nature-Based Social Prescribing and Loneliness, Health & Social Care in the Community, 2025, 6115206, 13 pages, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1155/hsc/6115206
• Pitkälä, K. H., Rautiainen, L. J., Aalto, U. L., Kolster, A., Laakkonen, M. L., Lehtonen, R., … Jansson, A. H. (2026). Adapting and applying a group facilitator training model to support nature-based social interventions for alleviating loneliness in five countries. Educational Gerontology, 1–17.

 

Published in 2025

• Kolster A, Rautiainen LR, Aalto UL, Jansson A, Partonen T, Sachs AL, Litt JS, Masó-Aguado M, Pitkala KH. The importance of nature and wishes for nature-based experiences among older adults in assisted living facilities. Gerontol Nurs 2025;63:300-306.
• Rautiainen, L., Jansson, A., Pitkälä, K., Aalto, U., & Kolster, A. (2025). Luontokokemukset iäkkäiden ihmisten kuntoutumisen tukena ympärivuorokautisessa palveluasumisessa. Kuntoutus, 48(4), 29-42.
• Lucie Cattaneo, Alexandre Daguzan, Gabriela García Vélez and Stéphanie Gentile Conceptualising a Community-Based Response to Loneliness: The Representational Anchoring of Nature-Based Social Prescription by Professionals in Marseille, Insights from the RECETAS Project Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2025, 22(9), 1400; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22091400
• Annika Kolster M , Ulla L. Aalto MD, PhD,Timo Partonen MD, PhD,Hannu Kautiainen PhD, Laura J. Rautiainen MSc, Anu Jansson PhD, Jill S. Litt PhD, Montse Masó-Aguado RN, Env, Kaisu H. Pitkälä MD, PhD Happy by Nature: Nature Connection as a Source of Psychological Well-Being in Assisted Living Facilities Author links open overlay panel https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105740
• Kolster, A 2024, Nature-based interventions for mental well-being, ‘Naturbaserade interventioner för psykiskt välbefinnande‘, Finska, Läkaresällskapets Handlingar, vol. 184, nr. 2, s. 60-65.

Published in 2024

• Sachs, AL., Maso-Aguado, M., Bach, A, Opacin, N, Hill, N, Cattaneo, L, Coll Planas, L, Litt, JS, Bekessy, S (2024). Research note: Capturing the dose of nature in nature-based interventions to reduce loneliness. MethodsX, Volume 13, 102969. DOI: 10.1016/j.mex.2024.102969.
• Pitkälä KH, Rautiainen L, Aalto UL, Kautiainen H, Kolster A, Laakkonen ML, Partonen T, Roitto HM, Strandberg TE, Opacin N, Puntscher S, Siebert U, Coll-Planas L, Sachs AL, Litt JS, Jansson AH. The RECETAS Consortium (2024), Participants’ baseline characteristics and feedback of the nature-based social intervention “Friends in Nature” among lonely older adults in assisted living facilities in Finland: a randomised controlled trial of the RECETAS EU-project, BMC Geriatrics, Vol 24 (1), 812. DOI: 10.1186/s12877-024-05408-0.
• Vert, C, Litt, JS, Gascón, M, Roqué, M, Masó, M, Opacin, N, Garcia, G, Jansson, A, Cattaneo, L, Bártová, A, Briones-Buixassa, L, Carbó, A, Rautiainen, L, Hidalgo, L, Sachs, A, Domènech, S, Blancafort-Alias, S, Homerová, I, Pitkälä, K, Coll-Planas, L. (2024) Evaluating the feasibility of “Friends in Nature”, a complex nature-based social intervention to address loneliness and quality of life in six cities worldwide. Pilot and Feasibility Studies 10, 146. DOI: 10.1186/s40814-024-01575-4
• Coll-Planas, L., Carbó-Cardeña, A., Jansson, A., Dostálová, V., Bartova, A., Rautiainen, L., Kolster, A., Masó-Aguado, M., Briones-Buixassa, L., Blancafort-Alias, S., Roqué-Figuls, M., Sachs, A. L., Casajuana, C., Siebert, U., Rochau, U., Puntscher, S., Holmerová, I., Pitkälä, K. H., Litt, J. S. (2024) Nature-based social interventions to address loneliness among vulnerable populations: a common study protocol for three related randomized controlled trials in Barcelona, Helsinki, and Prague within the RECETAS European project. BMC Public Health 24, 172.
• Scientific paper/EU policy guideline/Best practice by Jansson A (peer reviewed): Circle of Friends, an intervention for alleviating loneliness of older adults. Best practice in the field of mental health
• Scientific article by Pitkala KH, et al. Feasibility and baseline findings of the nature-based social intervention “Friends in nature” in a randomised controlled trial among lonely people living in assisted living facilities in Finland within the RECETAS European project. BMC Geriatrics 2024
  Tate, W., Sachs, AL, Litt, JS., Razani, N., Chawla, L. (2024). Nature Prescribing or Nature Programming? Complementary Practices to Increase Time in Nature to Support Mental Health. Ecopsychology (In Press).
• Sachs, A. L., Kolster, A., Wrigley, J., Papon, V., Opacin, N., Hill, N., Howarth, M., Rochau, U., Hidalgo, L., Casajuana, C., Siebert, U., Gerhard, J., Daher, C., Litt, J. C., (2024). Connecting through nature: A systematic review of the effectiveness of nature-based social prescribing practices to combat loneliness. Landscape and Urban Planning, Volume 248; DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105071

Published in 2023

• Litt, J. S., Coll-Planas, L., Sachs, A. L., Rochau, U., Jansson, A., Dostálová, V., Daher, C., Beacom, A., Bachinski, K., Garcia-Velez, G., Bekessy, S., Blancafort-Alias, S., Hill, N., Gascón, M., Bartova, A., Cattaneo, L., Cucchiaro, A., Casajuana Kögel, C., Opacin, N., Colom, J., Gentile, S., Holmerová, I., Johnson, K., Kimberlee, R., Siebert, U., Varda, D., Pitkälä, K. H. (2024). Nature-based social interventions for people experiencing loneliness: the rationale and overview of the RECETAS project. Cities & Health, 1–14.
• Litt, JS., Coll-Planas, L., Sachs, A., Masó Aguado, M., Howarth, M., (2023). Current Trends and Future Directions in Urban Social Prescribing, Current Environmental Health Reports.
• Celia Santos-Tapia, Laura Hidalgo, Pol Jimenez-Arenas, Cristina Casajuana, Sara Domènech, Aida Ballester-Lledó, Jill Litt, Ashby Sachs, Gabriela Garcia, Sergi Blancafort-Alias, Co-Creating a Nature-Based Social Prescription Intervention in Urban Socioeconomically Deprived Neighbourhoods: A Case Study from RECETAS Project in Barcelona, Spain, Health & Social Care in the Community, vol. 2023, Article ID 6616991, 16 pages, 2023.

Published in 2022

• Jansson A, Rautiainen L, Kolster A, Aalto U, Partonen T, Pitkälä K. RECETAS-projekti selvittää luontoelämysten vaikutuksia ympärivuorokautisessa hoidossa asuvien iäkkäiden ihmisten yksinäisyyteen. Gerontologia 2022;(2):199-203.
• Jansson A, Pitkälä KH, Karisto A. Listening to the voice of older people: dimensions of loneliness in assisted living facilities. Ageing & Society 27 Jan 2022, 1-18.