Validation of a measure of perceived environmental restorativeness.

Hartig, T., Korpela, K., Evans, G.W., & Garling, T. Validation of a measure of perceived environmental restorativeness. Goteborg Psychological Reports, 1996, 26, No. 7. Restorative environments help renew psychological resources depleted in environments that do not fully support intended functions. The design of restorative environments can be aided and the understanding of underlying theory improved with an instrument for measuring psychological factors thought to work in restorative experiences. This paper reports four studies carried out to develop such a measure, the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS). Each study used a variety of reliability and validity assessment strategies. Factor analysis was used to examine the stability of the measure’s factor structure across different sites and studies. To assess criterion, convergent, and discriminant validities, measures of emotional states and other environmental qualities were also completed for each site. The sites selected for evaluation differed on theoretically relevant dimensions so that the PRS’s sensitivity to meaningful differences among environments could be tested. The results were consistent across the studies, which also involved different subject populations (American, Swedish, Finnish) and presentation modes (on-site, video, photographic slides, remembered/imagined). Although factor analytic results indicate qualifications to keep in mind when interpreting PRS data, some