Challenging perspectives; understanding the barriers to engaging in an outdoor swimming feasibility randomised controlled trial

There is growing research evidence that swimming in outdoor water, along with other activities that involve immersion in blue space, has a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing (Denton and Aranda, 2020, Foley, 2015, Foley, 2017). Creative and mobile qualitative methods have been explored, for example swim-along interviews and audio-visual recording devises attached to surf boards, to discern the complex details of the multi-sensory experience (Denton et al., 2021; lisahunter; Stoodley, 2021; Bates and Moles, 2023). Through the use of these techniques, an understanding of the experience of immersion in outdoor water is developing. Common themes indicate that being submerged in water does offer a unique experience that is different to activities on land (Denton et al., in press). These shared experiences include an enthralling focus on the present moment and of being in nature (McDougall et al., 2022); engaging in a challenging activity in which mastery allows a risky practice to become enabling (Britton and Foley, 2021); the chance to escape from the pressures of day to day life or from difficult thoughts (Denton and Aranda, 2020; Caddick et al., 2015); and the importance of being part of a community that is undemanding (Bell et al., 2015) and welcoming to bodies that might otherwise be 'overlooked or problematised' (Throsby, 2013 p17).