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Improving Mental Health Through Bird and Birdsong

Brady R. Haskell

Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota

PSYC 303: Research Methods

Dr. Travis Clark

October 15, 2023

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In our world, popular media is becoming ever more important and widespread when it

comes to sharing information. Billions of people each day rely on the internet in order to scope

out the newest stories and studies to apply to their everyday lives. However, a question which

seems to escape a lot of people’s minds is ever growing with the spread of the internet: are these

popular media articles truly encapsulating the full extent and of the studies they refer to? The

answer is not simply yes or no. In this paper, I will analyze the article by The Guardian, “Bird

and birdsong encounters improve mental health, study finds,” and compare it with its original

source scientific article in order to determine if the popular media source is capturing the full

message of the original article.

The Guardian article by David Batty (2022) is obviously designed for public audiences as

opposed to being tailored towards scholars. The article seeks to give an explanation about the

study by Hammond, Tognin, and Burgess et al. (2022). The article begins by giving a simple

explanation of the study; seeing and hearing birds improves mental wellbeing (Batty, 2022). The

article makes a causal claim that the viewing or listening of these birds and birdsongs leads to

improved mental health. The article explains how the research found that visiting places with

birdlife such as parks and canals could be prescribed by doctors in order to treat mental health

conditions, and added that the findings suggested better protection of the environment and

improvement of biodiversity in order to preserve bird habitats (Batty, 2022). The article also

explained the smartphone app called Urban Mind, which tracked 1,292 participants’ encounters

with birds. This app prompted participants from the UK, Europe, the US, China, and Australia to

record how they were feeling and also whether they could currently see trees or birds (Batty,
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2022). Batty notes how average wellbeing scores increased when they were in the presence of

birds (2022).

The article by Hammond, Tognon, and Burgess et al. (2022) titled “Smartphone-based

ecological momentary assessment reveals mental health benefits of birdlife” of course goes more

in depth about the research. The study was a correlational study, as the researchers did not

particularly manipulate any variables, they simply collected data from the Urban Mind app. Of

course, the study revolved around the conceptual variable of mental wellbeing. The study found

that multilevel regression analyses showed “significant positive associations between seeing or

hearing birds and mental wellbeing,” and these results remained significant after adjusting for

any potential confounders (Hammond, Tognon, and Burgess et al. 2022). Subsequently, the

researchers noted that there was a positive association between when the participant saw or heard

birds and mental wellbeing during the subsequent assessment, however this effect was not

evident during the second subsequent assessment (Hammond, Tognon, and Burgess et al. 2022).

Perhaps one of the most intriguing findings of this study was that there was no difference in this

effect with people who had a diagnosis of depression, meaning that positive effects remained for

these individuals (Hammond, Tognon, and Burgess et al. 2022). This is important, as the study

provides a potential small solution to those who are experiencing mental health disorders.

Obviously, it is simply not possible for the popular media article to have included

multiple pages worth of information, as these articles are designed to give the reader a quick,

informative read. However, this does not mean that the article is incorrect in any sense. The

article by Batty provides a great overview of the study regardless of its length. There are not

really any issues with the way the information was presented either, as Batty included the key

findings and did not omit any major pieces of the study. It would not particularly be necessary to
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attempt to frame this information in any different ways. Continue critical analysis for final

paper

References

Batty, David. “Bird and Birdsong Encounters Improve Mental Health, Study Finds.” The

Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 27 Oct. 2022,

www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/27/bird-birdsong-encounters-improve-

mental-health-study.

Hammoud, R., Tognin, S., Burgess, L. et al. Smartphone-based ecological momentary

assessment reveals mental health benefits of birdlife. Sci Rep 12, 17589 (2022).

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20207-6