Assessing Nature-Based Interventions in Social Work with Migrants: Methodological Challenges in Temporal Impact Evaluation

Abstract

This study examines the practical and methodological strengths and limitations of evaluating nature-based interventions (NBIs) with migrant participants when evaluation is integrated into routine social work and service processes. Three short-term intervention cases in Finland, involving therapeutic gardening and a guided nature walk, included 38 participants and provided real-world contexts for examining pre–post and post-only evaluation approaches. Standardized psychosocial measures were used to assess emotional wellbeing, psychological restoration, nature relatedness, and social inclusion, while four post-intervention interviews complemented the quantitative assessments. Descriptive findings showed varying patterns across measures and highlighted methodological challenges related to small and heterogeneous groups, difficulties matching some pre- and post-intervention responses, linguistic and culturally challenging item wording, and participant burden. These factors limited the assessment of temporal change and comparison across evaluation approaches. The interviews provided contextual information that supported interpretation of the quantitative findings, although their limited number precluded conclusions about sustained or intervention-attributable change. The findings highlight the importance of matching evaluation measures and their timing to the construct being assessed, intervention duration, participant characteristics, and implementation context. Concise, context-sensitive measures complemented by brief qualitative approaches may provide a feasible strategy for evaluating short-term NBIs with migrant groups. Further research with larger samples, repeated interventions, longer follow-up periods, and culturally adapted multilingual measures is needed before conclusions can be drawn about the comparative suitability of individual measures or the effectiveness of particular interventions.