View in Vital Signs- Vibrant Human Quality of Life
- Sense of Place
- Indicator
- Psychological Wellbeing Index
- Vital Sign Indicator
- Index Value (index value)
- /
-
No targets are currently set for this indicator.
-
Kelly Biedenweg
- Contributing Partners
- Last Updated
- 07/31/2025 18:26:48
The Psychological Wellbeing Index measures the percent of Puget Sound residents who experience inspiration and stress reduction while in nature. The Index will help us understand whether the natural environment contributes to the psychological dimensions of human wellbeing.
Index of Psychological Wellbeing on a five-point scale based on how often respondents have felt inspiration and reduced stress as a product of spending time outdoors (where 1 is never and 5 is frequently or almost every day).
The Psychological Wellbeing Index will help us understand whether Puget Sound residents experience inspiration and stress reduction while in nature. These are critical measures of whether the natural environment contributes to human wellbeing.
- We measure Psychological Wellbeing by asking survey respondents how often they have felt inspiration and reduced stress as a product of spending time outdoors.
- 4.07 was the average response in 2024 (out of 5), which equates to participants experiencing inspiration or stress reduction from the outdoors “regularly” on a five-point scale. This is consistent with responses since 2018.
- Over 45% of Puget Sound residents identified psychological benefits from being outdoors almost daily.
- Monitoring Program
- Data Source
Oregon State University Human Dimensions Lab
Data are collected every two years via paper survey and online response option to a random sample of Puget Sound households. The population is a clustered random sample of Puget Sound residents across 12 counties, with an initial sample of 9,000. Due to undeliverable addresses, the total sample reached is always less than 9,000.
- In 2024, the response rate was 23% for a total of 1,968 responses.
- In 2022, the response rate was 20.8%, with a total of 1,271 responses.
- In 2020, the response rate was 25% for a total of 1,843 respondents.
- In 2018, the first iteration of the survey, the response rate was 28% for a total of 2,323 individual responses.
The psychological wellbeing indicator is based on two questions in the survey that asks respondents to rate their perceived frequency of experiencing emotional (stress reduction) and cognitive (inspiration) benefits of time outdoors on a scale of never to almost every day. These two questions are then combined to form an index of psychological wellbeing.
For more information on the survey, see Appendix A. Detailed Methodology and Appendix B. 2024 Survey Instrument in the 2024 Summary Report.
- Critical Definitions
 |
-
There are no significant differences since 2018. This lack of change is expected, as we don’t anticipate measuring large changes in human experiences until several years of monitoring and large ecological or social influencing events.
Bordas, A., A. Kuberski, K. Harrington, and K. Biedenweg. 2025. Human Wellbeing Vital Signs Survey 2024 Summary: A report on subjective human wellbeing indicators. prepared for the Puget Sound Partnership
Harrington, K., B. Leach, Z. Antenucci, and K. Biedenweg. 2023. Human Wellbeing Vital Signs Survey 2022 Summary: A report on subjective human wellbeing indicators prepared for the Puget Sound Partnership.
Justiniano, I., C. Avendano, C. Lozano and K. Biedenweg. 2021. Vital Signs Latinx Survey. Report to Puget Sound Partnership.
Fleming, W., H. Kehoe-Thommen, B. Katz, J. Hart and K. Biedenweg. 2021. Vital Signs Survey Summary 2020: A report on subjective human wellbeing. Report to the Puget Sound Partnership.
Fleming, W. and K. Biedenweg. 2019. Visualizing Human Wellbeing in the Puget Sound (Vital Signs Survey Summary 2018). Report to the Puget Sound Partnership.
Human Wellbeing Vital Signs Interactive Web-interface (2018, 2020)
The Puget Sound Partnership believes in the transparency and accessibility of the data used to address puget sound indicators. These data are provided by contributing partners to the Partnership and are made publicly available through the Puget Sound Info site. These data are available on an "as is" basis and the Partnership is not responsible for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. Please acknowledge the monitoring program and data source when using these data and obtain permission from the Vital Sign Indicator Reporter to use these data in a publication.
- HWB survey data and codebooks
- Uploaded On
- 07/29/2025
- File Type
- Excel (XLSX)
- Description
- Raw data and codebooks for all surveys: 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024
- Reporting Instructions
No Subcategories for this Puget Sound Indicator.