Page - 233 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

233 being. While motivations largely fell within the physical health domain (e.g. walk, eat) and nature-focused reasons (e.g. fresh air), a small number of comments can be considered as factors that might facilitate achieving spiritual well-being: wanting to think; wanting to take a break; the peace and quiet of the place. Spiritual well-being was identified as one of the effects of being in the park. This was expressed in terms of a sense of calm, peace, being at ease, feeling tranquil, serene and quiet. A second theme included feeling a connection to nature, a sense of being part of a larger reality. In light of these qualitative findings, it is instructive to examine the closed-ended statements that formed the reflection measure in Fuller et  al. (2007) and Dallimer et  al. (2012). Fuller et  al. (2007 [data supplement]) included the statement “being here makes me feel more connected to nature”, found within discussion and defini- tions of spiritual well-being. In Dallimer et  al. (2012 [Supplementary Data]), the items “I feel peaceful”, “I feel part of something that is greater than myself” and “I do not feel calm” were added in an effort to further explore spiritual outcomes. Future studies could usefully expand the reflection measure and develop appropriate close-ended statements, drawing from qualitative insight, to measure spiritual well-being. In summary, few studies directly investigated biodiversity’s effect on spiritual well-being. Literature on wilderness-based recreation provides some insight into the potential contribution that biodiverse settings could make to spiritual well-being. Fuller et  al.’s (2007), Dallimer et  al.’s (2012) and Irvine et  al.’s (2013) socio- ecological studies identify outcomes (e.g. reflection, place processes) that could act as mediators for the effect of biodiversity on spiritual well-being outcomes and provide insight into quantitative measure construction for future studies. Heintzman (2009, 2016) provides one of the few conceptual models that specifically explores relationships between nature settings, recreational interaction and spiritual well-being. 10.4 Discussion In this chapter we have sought to provide insight into the spiritual dimension of human health and explore its relationship with biodiversity. The body of literature identified contained few empirical studies that directly assessed the effects of biodi- versity on spiritual well-being. The literature does, however, paint a holistic account of the wider suite of connections with respect to the interplay between biodiversity and spiritual well-being. We considered these connections in terms of four narra- tives which focused on the influence of spiritual traditions on biodiversity, sacred places as repositories for biodiversity, the spiritual domain within ecosystem ser- vices and the effects of biodiversity on spiritual well-being. Here we consider how one might parse these relationships for research investigation, measurement issues related to both spiritual well-being and biodiversity, and potential future directions. 10 Biodiversity and  Spiritual Well-being