Sea Swimming for Treatment of Depression and Anxiety

August 17, 2021 updated by: Devon Partnership NHS Trust

The Effect of a Sea-safety Course on Mood, Mental Wellbeing and Inflammation

There is a developing evidence to suggest that open cold water swimming could have an impact on depression and anxiety:

  • anecdotal reports of benefits to mental wellbeing as a result of regular open water bathing
  • research suggesting exercise is as effective as medication and talking therapies in the treatment of depression
  • ecotherapy (offering therapeutic intervention in nature) has a developing evidence base
  • cold water may have an impact on the inflammatory system which has been linked to depression

The aim of this study is to recruit 10 people with mild to moderately severe depression to a sea swimming course, alongside their standard care. The course would involve two groups of 5, participating in eight sea sessions under the guidance and supervision of swim instructors and lifeguards.

The primary aim of the course is to determine the recruitment rate and compliance with the course.

The secondary aims of the course are to determine the impact on mental health through questionnaires for depression (PHQ9), anxiety (GAD7), functioning in daily life (WSAS). The inflammatory marker - C- reactive protein (CRP), will also be measured to monitor the inflammatory process in relation to psychological outcomes and the timeline of the course.

Participants will need to commit to two sessions a week. It is anticipated that participants will need to commit around 2 hours of their time to the study each week.

It would take around ten months from recruitment to follow-up. Participants would be able to leave the study at any time. Participants would engage in routine care alongside the course.

Sea swimming can be a dangerous activity but participants would be well supported, in small groups and would only sea swim in safe conditions. Participants will be asked to report any medical conditions to ensure they could not be adversely effected.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

61

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults living in North Devon and able to attend the course.
  • PHQ-9 score 5-19
  • Able to swim two lengths of a 25m pool

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Physical health problems that would make cold water immersion a risk including significant heart problems, inadequately treated high blood pressure e.g. new diagnosis not on stable medication, significantly reduced mobility.
  • Experience of other mental health problems at a significant level
  • Not able to swim or very anxious about getting into water
  • Suicide risk
  • Unable to speak English (as the sea swimming course will be conducted in English)
  • Unable to consent due to lack of capacity

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sea swimming
8 sessions over 4 weeks of swimming-based activities in the sea
Other: Sea swimming
8 sessions of swimming activities in the sea

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Recruitment and retention of participants
Time Frame: 5 weeks
The number of participants recruited and how many of them complete the course
5 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Effect of course on measures of anxiety
Time Frame: 5 weeks
Comparison of GAD7 scores before the start and after completion of the intervention
5 weeks
Effect of course on measures of depression
Time Frame: 5 weeks
Comparison of PHQ9 scores before the start and after completion of the intervention
5 weeks
Effect of course on measures of functioning
Time Frame: 5 weeks
Comparison of WSAS scores before the start and after the completion of the intervention
5 weeks
Effect of course on inflammation
Time Frame: 5 weeks
Comparison of CRP pre- and post-course
5 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Devon Partnership NHS Trust

Investigators

  • Study Chair: C Mark Harper, MBBS, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 1, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 16, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

March 16, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 24, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 24, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

August 27, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 18, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 17, 2021

Last Verified

August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • DPT0468 Sea Swimming

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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