Water-based outdoor physical activities meet psychological needs and have psychological benefitsResearch on the health benefits of natural environments has emphasized green spaces (vegetation) over blue spaces (aquatic ecosystems). Plus, the limited studies of water-based outdoor recreation have emphasized physiological responses over psychological health. Therefore, this Chinese study interviewed 11 university students about their water-based outdoor physical activities to conceptualize the psychological effects of water-based outdoor settings. In doing so, the study sought to provide insights about water-based outdoor activities that might inform psychological interventions in physical education.
This qualitative study administered semi-structured interviews to 11 students (age 18-28) from the diving association at a Chinese university because they had extensive experience with outdoor, water-based physical activity, such as diving and dragon boat. The two-hour interviews covered participants’ outdoor activities in water and their feelings during and after these activities. Interview questions were designed to uncover whether recreational, water-based, outdoor physical activities have unique psychological effects compared with other physical activities. Researchers transcribed each interview and used thematic analysis to group similar responses into categories approved by five experts.
This inductive analysis extracted 8 themes and 21 sub themes: Fearful anticipation (fear, novelty seeking/ desire for exploration); Safe-risking (safety needs, impulse to take risks); Freedom with constraints (sense of freedom, sense of constraint); Solitude integration (enjoying solitude, team integration); Awe and confrontation with nature (awe for nature, confrontation with nature); Sense of meaning in life (belonging to nature, contemplation of ontological questions about life/world, self-efficacy); Sense of identity (professionalism, certification, risk management skills); Flow experience (temporal transformation, spatial transformation, action-awareness merging, task oriented, sense of control). The authors distributed these themes into a psychological model comprised of initial emotional responses (where there’s a tension between fearful anticipation an safe-risking), intermediate cognitive and behavioral responses (characterized by freedom with constraints and solitude integration), advanced cognitive and existential responses (characterized by awe and confrontations with nature, sense of meaning in life, and sense of identity), and advanced experiences (flow experience).
These results suggest that outdoor activities in water have distinctive psychological impacts compared with physical activities on land. Empirically, these survey results not only identified physical benefits of water-based outdoor activities, but also psychological benefits. The authors argue that outdoor recreation in blue spaces helps young adults develop: (1) the ability to cope with fear and anxiety, (2) an adventurous spirit and risk assessment skills, (3) teamwork and social skills, and (4) self-reflection and personal growth. These findings could inform psychological interventions in university physical education programs. The study’s conceptual contribution is to propose a nested model of human needs that is different from linear models of human well-being. Overall, the study suggests that water-based outdoor physical activities have psychological benefits and meet psychological needs.
The Bottom Line