Thursday 1 February 2024
Discovering the Impact of paddling on mental and physical wellbeing at Holme Pierrepont Canoe Club
By Sarah Vernau, 2023 Co(l)laboratory Citizen Scientist Research Placement candidate
The “Wellbeing on the Water” project was created in partnership with Holme Pierrepont Canoe Club, a local club in Nottingham, to research the impact of paddling on participant’s physical and mental health. Much research has been done on the impact of exercise, and of being on or near water, but there is a lack of research on paddlesports specifically. Holme Pierrepont Canoe Club also wanted to understand the impact that paddlesports has on their members and to see if as a club they were meeting these needs.
As a kayaker myself, I was keen to be involved in this project as a Citizen Scientist Research Placement and to find out what impact paddlesports has on people’s wellbeing. And of course, it gave me a reason to talk to people about my favourite topic!
However, it wasn’t just chatting about kayaking – the placement was a big learning curve for me. Having not done any academic work for almost 25 years there was a lot to learn. I had great support from my supervisors Ella McLoughlin and Pete Holmes and from the Co(l)laboratory team and library staff who helped me get to grips with it all.
To begin with I carried out a literature review, looking at any relevant research and how these studies might apply to my project. I then created an interview guide for participants, working out a semi-structured set of questions for participants. Recruiting participants began slowly, but I was soon inundated, thanks to the support of the canoe club, with plenty of people willing to take part.
The subject matter being quite broad, meant that there were a number of themes that came out of the interviews. One of the key things that struck me after speaking to just a few people was that everybody was so keen to share their love of being on the water and how this impacted their wellbeing – everybody felt that it had a positive impact, albeit in different ways.
Listening back to the interviews and transcribing them was a time consuming task – one that I thought might be difficult and tedious but it was really useful to help me become familiar with the data and recall the interviews. While listening to the interviews I began to sort the data into themes – I had done some reading on how to interpret qualitative data using thematic analysis so tried to apply some of this to my own transcriptions. Five key themes emerged: (1) the impact of paddling on wellbeing; (2) paddling as a tool to support existing mental health issues or external stressors; (3) the impact of paddling on physical health; (4) the social impact of paddling (5) specific issues identified by female paddlers.
Talking with people about the impact paddling has on them, and why they paddle, was really interesting and enjoyable. It was fascinating listening to the different things people get out of it and I was particularly interested in those who had actively sought paddlesports as a way to manage stress for external factors such as work and home life – I spoke to people who had been through divorce, redundancy, and stressful home life situations and taken to the water to support their mental health in these situations.
I was keen to create a written report, something which I have not done for such a long time so was quite nervous when approaching it. I enjoyed writing it and putting together the findings and results into something cohesive, with support from Ella and Pete. Writing the results up also made me realise there is so much more to this as a research area! I was also given a fantastic opportunity to present my findings and a PhD research group, which was out of my comfort zone but the group were very receptive and supportive and it was great to be able to share the work with a wider audience.
The placement has been really interesting and I have learned a lot about the paddlesports community and about myself. It really has been a learning curve and I have completed some tasks I wouldn’t have been able to do before this – such as the literature review and thematic analysis. I have enjoyed learning new things and remembering what academic work feels like!
Toward the end of the project, I chatted with Ella and Pete about the possibility of some of this research developing into a PhD project – without doing the Citizen Science placement I would not have considered applying for a PhD, but am now considering it for 2025 if the opportunity arises.
Overall it has been a fantastic experience, and I think it’s a great way to involve people who aren’t from an academic background in researching projects that affect our communities, and I would encourage anybody interested to get involved. The Co(l)laboratory team are really supportive and there are lots of opportunities for further research and learning – and maybe even that PhD!
Sara Vernau is a Kayaker