Sailing for Resilience: a Pilot Evaluation of Nature Therapy Program for Stress and Anxiety

Aim The aim of the current study was to investigate the association of completing a 12-week long resilience sailing program, with participants’ experienced reduction in their stress levels and post-traumatic stress symptomology. These foci included predicting a reduction in re-experiencing the traumatic event, predicting a reduction in avoidance, predicting a reduction in negative alterations in cognition and mood and hypothesis, and predicting a reduction in alterations in arousal and reactivity. Design This research used a quasi-experimental time series design where participants were asked to provide data at three different time points (i.e. at the beginning, middle and end throughout the duration of the resilience sailing program). Method There were 7 participants recruited for the study, with 6 participants completing the program to date. All participants reported experience a traumatic event before registering with the program. The participants involved in the study were recruited in person by the researchers at the start of the sailing program. The study included 5 female participants and two male participants, ranging between 41 to 70 years of age, coming from a variety of social backgrounds and occupations, including one registered nurse, a police officer and two retirees. Results The Wilcoxon Matched-Pair Signed-Rank Test was conducted on the sample dataset to investigate changes in scores between three different time-points. From time point 1 to time point 3, significant negative differences were found for all PTSD criteria, that being re-experiencing (z = -2.00, p = .046), avoidance (z = -2.20, p = .03), NACM (z = -2.21, p = .03) and ARRT (z = -2.00, p = .46). From time point 1 to time point 3, significant negative differences were again found for all PTSD criteria, that being re-experiencing (z = -2.00, p = .046), avoidance (z = -2.20, p = .03), NACM (z = -2.21, p = .03) and ARRT (z = -2.00, p = .46). Conclusion Research and evaluation of nature therapy interventions are in their infancy, both worldwide and in Australia. However, this pilot research suggests that nature therapy program may provide a novel means of de-escalating stress and anxiety symptoms after individuals experience traumatic events.