Everyone will have their own experiences, opinions and relationship with blue space. Although we have included some common themes that came out of our interviews, there was a wide range of responses. Therefore, we would encourage you to think about your own mental health and interaction with blue spaces. Many participants said it was interesting to think about this through participating in the interviews, so please take a look at the questions we asked to help you think this through and see what it would have been like to be a participant!
What can blue do for you? A research study asking people with bipolar, schizophrenia or psychosis about their experiences of blue space and wellbeing.
In a research study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council “Closing the Gaps” scheme, we interviewed 19 people with bipolar, schizophrenia or psychosis about how they find blue spaces influence their wellbeing. We were particularly looking for people who do use blue spaces to support their health. We then analysed what people told us, looking for “themes” that seemed important, either because they appeared to be important to that person or were mentioned by multiple people. Below is a diagram showing some of the themes we noticed. To read more about a theme and see examples of what people said about it, you can click on it.
Or you can explore the themes with the video below.
Further research
If you’re interested in what other research has been done in this area, please take a look at some summaries of further research that has helped inform this project.