The effects of environmental enrichment on skin barrier recovery in humans: a randomised trial

Autor(en)
Mikaela Law, Paul Jarrett, Urs Markus Nater, Nadine Skoluda, Elizabeth Broadbent
Abstrakt

This study investigated whether environmental enrichment (EE) could reduce stress and improve wound healing in humans. 120 participants underwent a standardised tape-stripping procedure and were then randomised to interact for 30 minutes with one of three EE interventions (comfort blankets as tactile enrichment, music as auditory enrichment or a Paro robot as multi-sensory enrichment) or to a control group. Skin barrier recovery (SBR) was measured using transepidermal water loss at baseline, after tape-stripping and after the intervention. Psychological variables, cortisol and alpha-amylase were measured at the three time-points. SBR did not significantly differ between the EE conditions and the control condition. The music condition had higher stimulation levels than the control condition, and the comfort condition had significantly lower relaxation levels than the control condition after the intervention. The EE interventions tested were not beneficial for wound healing compared to a control group. Limitations were that the sample were not stressed and an active control condition was used.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie, Forschungsplattform The Stress of Life - Processes and Mechanisms underlying Everyday Life Stress
Externe Organisation(en)
University of Auckland
Journal
Scientific Reports
Band
10
Anzahl der Seiten
11
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66687-2
Publikationsdatum
06-2020
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
501010 Klinische Psychologie
Schlagwörter
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/ff46b1f0-ec42-48c9-b75f-480282c6c68b