OUTSIDE

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Outdoor swimming as a nature-based intervention for depression: a feasibility randomised control trial

• IRAS ID

  309748

• Contact name

  Yvette Wagner

• Contact email

  yvette.wagner@spft.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust

• ISRCTN Number

  ISRCTN90851983

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 9 months, 10 days

• Research summary

  Many report outdoor swimming improves their mental health. Research has shown OWS helps people with depression, but not enough to say for certain. Social prescribing link workers work with GPs to support individuals to take control of their own health. They link patients with community-based activities and non-medical support.

  In this study, up to 88 participants with mild to moderate symptoms of depression will be recruited by the link workers from three
  separate locations (London, Worcestershire and North Devon). They will be offered an OWS course in a lido, lake and sea at respective locations and we will investigate if it will help them. This will help us to decide if we can go on to run a larger clinical trial and, if so, how best to design it. The larger clinical trial would tell us if OWS does help to reduce depression symptoms. It will also give us information about who and how it might help.

  Participants will either go on an 8-week 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. The usual care-only group will be offered the swimming course after the study finishes.

  Experienced coaches will run the courses and will build confidence and water safety skills. Participants will fill out questionnaires that ask about their mental health and use of health care services before the study starts, during the swimming course (or usual care only) and at 8 weeks after the course. We will also get feedback from participants, coaches, link workers and people who declined or dropped out of the study. This will help us design the full trial.

  Funding has been granted by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

• REC name

  London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  22/LO/0268

• Date of REC Opinion

  17 May 2022

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion