OUTSIDE 2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
OUTSIDE 2. Outdoor swimming as a nature-based intervention for depression: a full scale randomised controlled trial
IRAS ID
328871
Contact name
Heather Massey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Background
Many people say outdoor swimming improves their mental health. There has been some research showing outdoor swimming helps people with depression, but not enough to say for certain. In this study, we want to offer an outdoor swimming course to adults with depression to see if it can help them.
Aim
This is a larger clinical trial and will tell us if outdoor swimming does help to reduce depression symptoms. It will also give us information about who and how it might help.
Design and Methods
Individuals who decide to take part will either go on an 8-session outdoor swimming course, as well as their usual care or have their usual care only. Usual care may include talking therapies and/or antidepressant medications and other activities they do to help their mental health. The usual care-only group will be offered the swimming course after the study finishes. The outdoor swimming courses will be run by experienced coaches and will build confidence and water safety skills.
During the study, participants will fill out questionnaires that ask about their depression, mental health, wellbeing, and use of health care services. Participants will complete them before the study starts, immediately after the swimming course (or usual care) and six months later. We will also ask participants, about their experience of the swim courses, this information will help to develop an outdoor swimming manual. This manual will help ensure good practice and contribute towards patient benefit and safety.
Public involvement
We have had two PPI meetings to help us plan this study. They have included people with depression, from diverse backgrounds and people who have found swimming helpful. Two members of our research team are PPI co-applicants and we have two PPI members on the steering group to help oversee the study. During the study, we will also meet nine times with a PPI group who will help us with planning how we should advertise the study, remove barriers to participation and communicate the findings to the public.
Dissemination
The results will be shared with participants and published in science journals and the wider media. The manual will be made available free of charge to commissioning services and outdoor swimming coaches.
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0942
Date of REC Opinion
9 Jan 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion