An Indicator of environmental enrichment to measure physical, social and cognitive activities in human daily life

• Published in: BMC psychiatry Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 295 - 8
• Main Authors: Flores-Ramos, Mónica, Yoldi-Negrete, María, Guiza-Zayas, Rodrigo, Ramírez-Rodríguez, Gerardo-Bernabé, Montes-Castrejón, Adolfo, Fresán, Ana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 25.04.2022; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Animal cognition; Approximation; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Care and treatment; Cognition; Cognitive ability; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnosis; Enrichment; Environmental aspects; Environmental enrichment; Exercise; Health aspects; Humans; Major depressive disorder; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Metabolism; Methods; Physical activity; Psychiatry; Questionnaires; Reproducibility of Results; Sensory stimulation; Social activity; Social integration; Somatosensory stimuli; Surveillance; Surveys; Validity; Mexico; Florida; United States > US; Social activity; Depression; Cognition; Physical activity; Environmental enrichment
• ISSN: 1471-244X; 1471-244X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12888-022-03952-w

The concept of environmental enrichment (EE) encompasses complex physical, social, cognitive, motor, and somatosensory stimuli to which individuals are differentially exposed. An indicator of EE comprising these elements would facilitate the study of the impact of EE in diverse clinical settings by allowing an easy and comparable measurement. This study aimed to create and test such an EE indicator based on the Florida Cognitive Activities Scale (FCAS), the Multidimensional Social Integration in Later Life Scale (SILLS), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Participants with major depression and control subjects were recruited in this cross-sectional comparative study. Depressive symptom severity was assessed with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). The EE indicator was used to evaluate cognitive, social, and physical activity. We divided the sample into three levels of cognitive and social activities to construct an EE indicator and compared the obtained scores between participants with major depression and control subjects. 40 patients suffering from major depression and 50 control subjects were included. Higher HAM-D scores were associated with lower EE levels. Cognitive and social items exhibited adequate reliability. Control subjects reported higher scores in all three activities evaluated, except for some items of physical activities. This indicator of EE clearly differentiated between participants with major depression from control subjects. FCAS, SILLS, and IPAQ used together are valid to evaluate EE. This EE indicator may be a useful tool during clinical practice. The cross-sectional design and the small sample size are limitations of the present study.