Overview of “Systematic Reviews” of the Built Environment’s Effects on Mental Health

Table 2

Characteristics of the included systematic reviews.

Author (Year)	Population/stage	Number of included studies	Interventions	Outcome	Meta-analysis	Quality assessment
Bowler et al. 2010 [44]	All ages	11studies (6 crossover trial, 1 observational study, 4 pretest-posttest comparison groups-randomised)	Exposure to natural environments: (i) Public parks; (ii) Green university campuses	Well-being; (i) Anger; (ii) Fatigue; (iii) Sadness; (iv) Anxiety; (v) Anger	Yes	Methodology quality checklist was devised by the authors
Friesinger et al. 2019 [43]	People with mental health problems	11 studies (6 cross-sectional, 1 longitudinal, 1mixed-method, 1participant observation-free analysis, 1 interview content analysis, and 1 photo-elicitation and interviews)	Housing type	Well-being	No	Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP, 2017)
Gascon et al.2015 [45]	General population—all ages	28 studies (21 cross-sectional, 6 longitudinal, and 1 ecological study)	Residential green and blue spaces	Mental health	No	Quality score was based on 11 different items
Gascon et al.2017 [46]	General population—all ages	12 studies (7 cross-sectional, 4 longitudinal, and 1 pre/postobservational study)	Outdoor blue spaces	Mental health and well-being	No	Quality score was based on 11 different items
Gong et al 2016 [47]	General population—all ages	11 studies (11 cross-sectional)	Urban environment: (i) Architectural design; (ii) Land use; (iii) Walkability, connectivity, and accessibility; (iv) Neighborhood and housing quality	Psychological distress; (i) Depression; (ii) Anxiety	No	Critical appraisal proforma developed and validated by the Health Evidence Bulletin Wales project
Ige et al.2018 [48]	General population—all ages	6 studies (1 randomised controlled trial, 1 quasiexperimental study, 1 before-and-after studies, 2 longitudinal, and 1 case-control)	Buildings: (i) Quality of housing (thermal and ventilation); (ii) Housing affordability/access to affordable homes or social housing	(i) Mental health; (ii) Well-being	No	Quality assessment tool developed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP)
Moore et al.2018 [49]	General population in high-income countries	10 studies (5 longitudinal and 5 cross-sectional)	Built environment: (i) Transport infrastructure modifications; (ii) Improving green infrastructure; (iii) Urban regeneration	(i) Mental health; (ii) Well-being	No	Cochrane risk of bias tool (RoB 2.0) and risk of bias in nonrandomized studies of interventions (ROBINS-I)
Rautio et al.2017 [15]	General population—all ages	57 studies (1 controlled trial, 40 cross-sectional, 9 longitudinal, 1 multicohort, 1 ecologic design, and five cross-sectional and longitudinal)	Living environment: (i) House and built environment; (ii) Green spaces; (iii) Noise and air pollution	Depression	No	Downs and Black checklist modified by the authors
Turley et al.2013 [50]	Slums—adults/children	1 study (1 controlled study with only postintervention data)	Cement floors (Piso Firme)	(i) Depression; (ii) Stress	No	NICE/GATE tool
van den Berg et al.2015 [51]	General population—adults	19 studies (15 cross-sectional and 4 longitudinal)	Green spaces: (i) Amount of green space around the residence in circular buffer; (ii) Amount of green space in small area/neighborhood; (iii) Presence/number of green spaces within distance; (iv) Having a garden; (v) Distance to nearest green space; (vi) Amount of green space around the residence in circular buffer	Mental health	No	Methodological quality criteria list
Zhang et al. 2017 [52]	People with mobility impairments	12 studies (2 cross-sectional analytical, 2 randomized controlled trials, 1 quantitative descriptive study, 1 nonrandomized controlled trial, 4 phenomenology, and 2 qualitative description)	Health-promoting nature access: (i) Surrounding nature of nursing homes; (ii) Green environment near retirement homes; (iii) Outdoor blue and green spaces	Mental health	No	Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT)

Articles included in the RS with the outcome mental health.