CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 31Urban Green Space and HealthOutdoor and Experiential EducationRecreation, Leisure, Wilderness Management

Riding the wave into wellbeing: A qualitative evaluation of surf therapy for individuals living with acquired brain injury

Open access
Gibbs, Katie, Wilkie, Lowri, Jarman, Jack, Barker-Smith, Abigail, Kemp, Andrew H., Fisher, Zoe·2022·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0266388PMC PMC8989185
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Nature has long demonstrated the capacity to facilitate wellbeing. Interventions involving the natural environment such as surf therapy, are increasingly being used to facilitate aspects of wellbeing in clinical populations. However, explorations of how nature-based interventions such as surf therapy may be used to promote wellbeing in the context of neurorehabilitation are missing from the peer-reviewed literature. Here we characterize the experience of a five-week surfing intervention involving fifteen adults living with the psycho-social and cognitive sequelae of acquired brain injury. Insights were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, which highlighted the importance of seven overarching themes, including: 1) Connection to Nature, 2) Facilitating Trust and Safety, 3) Managing and Accepting Difficult Emotions, 4) Facilitating Positive Emotion, Meaning and Purpose, 5) Building Community through Social Connection, and 6) Positive Change. Barriers and opportunities (theme 7) were also identified as components on which clinical services may be improved. We present a theoretical model for the benefits of surf therapy in people living with acquired brain injury (ABI) based on these themes and reflections on findings from the wider literature. Findings emphasise the importance of leveraging community partnerships to augment the holistic model of neurorehabilitation and potential implications for service redesign are discussed, focusing on recent developments in wellbeing science.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1371/journal.pone.0266388

Cites

98 of 100 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A group-based surf therapy intervention for people with acquired brain injury involving a partnership across academia, healthcare and community-based organizations may facilitate a cascade of mechanisms supporting positive change.

    “For instance, we found that a group-based surf therapy intervention for people with acquired brain injury involving a partnership across academia, healthcare and community-based organizations may facilitate a cascade of mechanisms supporting positive change (Wilkie et al., 2021; Gibbs et al., 2022).”

    From The Complex Construct of Wellbeing and the Role of Vagal Function (2022) · cites this paper as Gibbs et al., 2022

    The Methods (Intervention; page not provided) describe group-based surf therapy for people with acquired brain injury delivered through a healthcare–community partnership. The Conclusions (page not provided) propose that the intervention can facilitate a cascade of mechanisms for positive change. Our copy does not establish that academia was a partner in delivering the intervention. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Surf therapy programs for adults and children provide physical benefits, including helping with brain injury, post-hip surgery recovery, cerebral palsy, and Autism Spectrum and Down Syndrome symptomatology.

    “Surf therapy programs for adults and children provide physical benefits, including helping with brain injury, 2 post-hip surgery recovery, 8 cerebral palsy, 9 and Autism Spectrum and Down Syndrome 9 symptomatology.”

    From The Groundswell Community Surf Therapy Intervention for At-Risk Women and Changes in Body Acceptance, Resilience, and Emotional Regulation (2024) · cites this paper as [2]

  • The science of wellbeing has given rise to interventions designed to improve wellbeing in people living with chronic conditions, for whom interventions have typically focused on reducing illbeing.

    “The science of wellbeing has given rise to new opportunities including interventions designed to improve wellbeing in people living with chronic conditions (e.g., Tulip et al., 2020; Wilkie et al., 2021; Gibbs et al., 2022), for whom interventions have typically focused on reducing illbeing.”

    From The Complex Construct of Wellbeing and the Role of Vagal Function (2022) · cites this paper as Gibbs et al., 2022

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [52]Csikszentmihalyi M., Abuhamdeh S., and Nakamura J., Flow, in Flow and the foundations of positive psychology. 2014, Springer. p. 227– 238.
  2. [81]Fredrickson B.L., Chapter One—Positive Emotions Broaden and Build, in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Devine P.and Plant A., Editors. 2013, Academic Press. p. 1– 53.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Gibbs, K., Wilkie, L., Jarman, J., Barker-Smith, A., Kemp, A. H., & Fisher, Z.
Affiliations
Morriston Hospital (GB)
Corresponding author
Kemp, Andrew H.
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2022-04-07
Volume
17
Issue
4
Pages
e0266388
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0266388
PMC
PMC8989185
OpenAlex
W4226073231
Cited by
31
References
100
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5
FWCI
2.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
welsh government - ‘integrated care fund wales’
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Urban Green Space and Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Outdoor and Experiential Education
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Recreation, Leisure, Wilderness Management
Keywords
surf therapy, acquired brain injury, well-being, nature-based interventions, neurorehabilitation, nature connection, trust and safety, emotion regulation, positive emotions, meaning and purpose, social connectedness, community, service redesign, holistic rehabilitation
MeSH terms
Neurological Rehabilitation, Adult, Brain Injuries, Emotions, Humans, Sports

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review