About

Jay Maddock, PhD, FAAHB, is a Regents Professor and the Director of the Center for Health & Nature at the School of Public Health at Texas A&M University. His research interests focus on social ecological approaches to increasing physical activity and the relationship between health and nature. Maddock holds a PhD and an MA in Psychology from the University of Rhode Island, as well as a BA in Psychology and Sociology from Syracuse University. His professional background includes expertise in health communications and research methods, contributing to his role in advancing public health initiatives related to environmental and occupational health.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Environmental health
• Nursing
• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Demography
• Internal medicine
• Psychology
• Business
• Gerontology
• Geography
• Virology
• Data science
• Endocrinology
• Cartography
• Medical emergency
• Physical therapy
• Social psychology
• Pediatrics
• Family medicine

Selected publications

• Associations Between Diet Quality and Psychosocial and Environmental Factors in Rural Adults

  Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior · 2025-12-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF PERSONALIZED RISK ESTIMATION WITH CLINICAL AND INTEGRATED SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL DATA FOR DIABETES MELLITUS (PRECISE-DM): A MULTIMODAL PREDICTION TOOL FROM THE HOUSTON METHODIST CARDIOVASCULAR LEARNING HEALTH SYSTEM REGISTRY

  Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2025-03-29

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Health Promotion in Public Parks: A Statewide Study in Texas Cities

  Journal of Park and Recreation Administration · 2025-10-28

  article

  City parks can promote health and health equity through many pathways and programs. In this study, we aimed to characterize health promotion efforts in city parks across the state of Texas. We surveyed the state’s 50 largest municipal park systems, asking about: park system metrics (acreage, budget, etc.), facilities, health promotion programs, health promotion partnerships, park equity initiatives, and challenges and barriers to health promotion efforts. Among the 30 cities (60%) that responded, health promotion programs and initiatives were common. These included fitness classes (in 100% of responding park systems), health education programming (66.7%), health fairs, health screenings, and walking/running groups (56.7% each). Programs serving special populations included those for the elderly (97%), for visitors using wheelchairs (86.7%), for low-income visitors (73.3%), and for racial and ethnic minorities (56.7%). Park systems reported a wide range of partnerships with health organizations—nonprofit organizations more commonly than hospitals or health departments. Few park systems engaged health professionals directly, in efforts such as Walk with a Doc. This study confirms that parks promote health through diverse initiatives and partnerships. It also highlights further opportunities for health promotion in parks, including partnerships with health organizations, engagement of health professionals, enhanced emphasis on mental health and nutrition, and outcome evaluation. These findings emphasize the importance of making health promotion a central part of park planning and operations, especially by building partnerships with health professionals and evaluating program outcomes. Park leaders and advocates can use these insights to secure resources and align park programs with broader community health and equity goals.

  PublisherDOI

• Understanding the Influence of Window Views, Plantscapes, and Green Décor in Virtual Reality Hospital Rooms on Simulated Acute-Care Patients’ Stress Recovery and Relaxation Responses

  HERD Health Environments Research & Design Journal · 2025-07-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Window views, indoor plants, and room décor can potentially improve restoration and healing in a hospital room environment. Preferences for these attributes and their individual effect on physiological and cognitive outcomes remain understudied. This study investigated the extent to which visible green nature in window views, plantscapes, and green colored decor in virtual reality hospital rooms, affected restoration outcomes of simulated acute care patients. First, 12 room environments were developed in virtual reality where window views, plants, and green-colored room decor variables relevant to Stress Recovery Theory were systematically manipulated. Next, participants in a simulated patient acute-injury scenario ( N = 188), which induced an external stress process, rated the environments on how much they perceived the room contributed to their sense of feeling relaxed and ability to clear their mind of stressful thoughts. Ratings for each environment were aggregated and used in full-profile and moderated conjoint analyses. Indoor plants produced the highest utility score on physical relaxation , while nature window views had the highest utility score for mental clarity . Utility scores for indoor plants were significantly higher on physical relaxation and mental clarity for the respondents with higher scores of acute cognitive stress, induced from the external stressor process. The verdant elements (e.g., green nature views, indoor plants, and green room décor) were associated with the highest restorative utility. Buildings obstructing nature views were associated with negative utility scores on the restoration outcomes. Findings highlight the individual and combined effects of: (1) indoor plants; (2) unobstructed views from the window of green nature; and, (3) green-colored décor in hospital room design.

  PublisherDOI

• Understanding perceived healing through biophilic hospital room virtual reality scenarios

  Journal of Service Theory and Practice · 2025-08-13 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Purpose Motivated by the psychoevolutionary theory, this study investigated the impact of a biophilic environment in hospital rooms presented in virtual reality (VR) to simulated patients on perceived healing. It explored how varying degrees of nature exposure through window views, indoor plants and green-themed décor, influenced patients’ recovery perceptions, offering insights into evidence-based healthcare design. Design/methodology/approach A total of 12 VR scenarios of a hospital room were created, manipulating biophilic design elements. Participants rated the extent to which each scenario was perceived to contribute to the ability to heal after undergoing a hospital patient transportation narrative and acute external stressor process. The ratings were analyzed using full-profile conjoint and group conjoint analyses. Findings The results demonstrated that views of dense green nature from the window, abundant indoor plants and green colored room décor had the highest utility scores among attributes influencing the room’s perceived contribution to healing. In contrast, views of adjacent buildings and the hospital building envelope were negatively associated with perceived healing. Research limitations/implications Higher saturation of a green environment and interior design in hospitals, including views of nature from windows, higher quantities of indoor plants and prevalence of green-colored décor, can potentially boost patients’ healing confidence and psychological recovery, supporting their overall therapeutic experience. Originality/value This study explores simulated patients’ perceptions of hospital room environments in VR, focusing on biophilic and verdant environments. It examines views of nature, buildings and the sky through windows, presence of plants and interior design features including green walls.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Consensus Statement for Ecological Medicine: Moving Toward Connection-Based Medicine

  EcoHealth · 2025-10-25 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Mounting evidence across multiple disciplines supports the health benefits of connection to nature. Although this trend suggests that the human-nature relationship is integral to health, its importance is often overlooked in clinical practice due, in part, to lack of consensus on its scope, limits, and terminology. To fill a needed gap, we developed a consensus statement on an inter-connectivity based view of health termed Ecological Medicine. The study recruited an expert working group and used modified Delphi technique and focus groups. The Ecological Medicine Working Group was directed toward Ecological Medicine consensus goals that included: (1) a consensus definition and framework, (2) priorities for practice, research, education, and policy, and (3) Ecological Medicine's implications. A consensus definition and framework for Ecological Medicine was reached, focusing on the importance of human inter-connections (to self, others, non-human species, and natural environment) in informing health understanding. Ecological Medicine suggests that healthcare should shift toward inter-connectivity, relationality, and health practices involving connection-based interventions, especially nature-based interventions. This framework may benefit research, practice, education, policy and other domains of healthcare by focusing on the importance and benefits of connectivity-based health interventions and on the inseparability of human health and planetary health.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Health Care Provider Behaviors and Characteristics that Are Associated with Issuing Nature Prescriptions

  Ecopsychology · 2025-07-18 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Nature prescriptions (NRx) can help address mental health issues, wellness, physical inactivity, and lack of time spent outdoors but have yet to become widespread in clinical practice. This study explores the behaviors and characteristics of health care providers (HCPs) who issue NRx; motivators and barriers to issuing them; health conditions for which HCPs issue NRx; the time it takes to issue a prescription; the satisfaction level; and perceptions of their effectiveness. A cross-sectional study of an online survey was conducted on 135 HCPs who had registered with ParkRxAmerica.org (aka Natureprescribed.org ; PRA). We assessed prescribing behaviors, connectedness to nature (CNS), time spent in nature, burnout, motivators and barriers to and reasons for prescribing, and demographic variables with chi-square test, t-test, and analyses of variance. Half (56%) of respondents issued NRx. This group reported greater CNS and more frequent outdoor breaks. Within this group, frequency of issuing prescriptions, CNS, park visits, outdoor breaks, and less screen time were positively correlated ( p < 0.01). Most prescriptions were written for mental and general health conditions, and physical inactivity. More than 80% thought prescriptions were effective for improving physical and mental health. Several barriers to issuing prescriptions existed. HCPs who wrote more prescriptions reported feeling greater CNS, visited greenspace and nature more frequently, took more frequent workday breaks, and reported less screen time. This emphasizes the importance of frequent exposure to nature, both during and outside of work, to improve NRx writing.

  PublisherDOI

• Climate Vulnerability Index and Incident Type 2 Diabetes in a Large Integrated Health Care System

  JAMA Network Open · 2025-12-05 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Importance: Place-based Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) may shape metabolic risk through environmental and socioeconomic stressors, but its association with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) is not well characterized. Objective: To determine whether residence in communities with higher CVI is associated with risk of incident T2D. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study used data from the Houston Methodist Learning Health System Registry, a large integrated health system that primarily serves Greater Houston, Texas. Participants included adults aged 18 years or older without T2D at baseline and with at least 1 outpatient encounter and at least 1 subsequent health care encounter from June 2016 to August 2023. Data analysis was conducted September 2025. Exposures: US census tract-level CVI categorized into quartiles (Q1-Q4). Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was incident T2D identified by International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification codes, antihyperglycemic prescriptions, or hemoglobin A1c 6.5% or higher. Primary measures were incidence rates (cases per 100 person-years) and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs comparing Q4 vs Q1 from Cox models adjusted for demographics, insurance, cardiometabolic risk factors, and baseline hemoglobin A1c. Results: Among 1 003 526 participants (mean [SD] age, 50.9 [18.4] years; 605 829 women [60.4%]; 132 451 African American or Black [13.2%]; 71 408 Asian [7.1%]; 156 989 Hispanic or Latinx [15.6%]; 566 632 White [56.5%]; 35 565 other [3.5%]; 42 942 unknown or not reported [4.3%]), 40 152 developed T2D over 2.1 million person-years (overall incidence, 1.88 cases per 100 person-years). Diabetes incidence was higher among participants residing in Q4 vs Q1 CVI areas (2.66 vs 1.48 cases per 100 person-years), and the 7-year risk was 14.1% for Q4 participants vs 8.6% for Q1 participants. Residence in Q4 vs Q1 CVI was associated with higher T2D risk (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.11-1.36), a statistically significant difference. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of 1 003 526 adults, higher community CVI was associated with greater risk of incident T2D independently of traditional risk factors. Linking geocoded CVI to electronic health records may support targeted prevention, risk stratification, and population health planning.

  PublisherDOI

• Association Between Physical Activity, Psychosocial Factors, and the Built Environment in Rural Adults

  Journal of Physical Activity and Health · 2025-10-18 · 1 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND: Psychosocial and built environment (BE) factors can influence physical activity (PA). Objectives were to assess whether psychosocial or BE variables were associated with PA and whether associations differed by sociodemographic characteristics in rural communities. METHODS: The sample included 2215 adults enrolled in a healthy lifestyle intervention cluster-randomized trial. Sociodemographic variables included age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and income. Health variables included general health status and body mass index. PA was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-long form. Metabolic Equivalent-minutes per week were calculated for total PA, moderate and vigorous PA, and walking. Psychosocial (exercise attitudes, exercise confidence, social support for PA from family/friends) and BE variables (walking environment, sidewalks, street shoulders, community safety, community aesthetic quality) were assessed via questionnaire. Linear regressions modeled bivariate associations between PA and PA context variables. Multivariate regression models evaluated whether sociodemographic or health variables modified relationships between PA and PA context variables. RESULTS: All psychosocial measures were positively associated with all measures of PA. Walking environment and community safety were the only BE measures associated with all measures of PA. Being an older adult (65+) had significantly greater effects on exercise attitudes, exercise confidence, and social support from friends on walking. Education and income did not consistently moderate associations between psychosocial factors and any measure of PA. CONCLUSIONS: Future studies should confirm whether psychosocial characteristics are associated with PA in other populations and explore how these effects are moderated by sociodemographic characteristics. Further research is needed on the role of the environment in influencing PA in rural communities.

  PublisherDOI

• Civic Engagement and Social Connectedness in Rural Communities: The Role of Sociodemographic Factors and Social Determinants of Health in Rural Areas of the United States

  Social Sciences · 2025-11-19

  articleOpen access

  This study examined whether civic engagement (CE) and social connectedness (SC) differ by sociodemographic characteristics and social determinants of health (SDOH). Baseline data were drawn from a rural community-randomized controlled trial (n = 2381). Sociodemographic characteristics included sex, age, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, employment, and income. SDOH measures included food insecurity, having a regular healthcare provider, housing instability, utility shutoffs, transportation access, and government assistance. CE measures included attitudes, behaviors, and mobilization, while SC measures included community health investment, social cohesion, and social networks. Bivariate associations were estimated using linear regression to assess relationships between CE and SC measures and sociodemographic and SDOH measures. Being married, college-educated, or employed were positively associated with multiple CE measures. SC measures were consistently higher among participants with greater educational attainment and lower among those experiencing food insecurity. Findings highlight persistent inequities in CE and SC across sociodemographic and SDOH factors within rural communities.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R03CA115092

  NIH · $135k · 2008

Frequent coauthors

• Katie M. Heinrich

  Kansas State University

  155 shared

• Karin Valentine Goins

  University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

  148 shared

• Rodney Lyn

  SickKids Foundation

  143 shared

• Thomas L. Schmid

  125 shared

• Semra Aytur

  University of New Hampshire

  124 shared

• Meera Sreedhara

  Cherokee Nation

  123 shared

• Robin Riessman

  University of Massachusetts Amherst

  122 shared

• Bridget Kerner

  Office of Minority Health

  121 shared

Education

• Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, Psychology

  University of Rhode Island

  1999

• MA in Experimental Psychology, Psychology

  University of Rhode Island

  1997

• BA in Psychology/Sociliogy, Psychology

  Syracuse University

  1995