Mari Todd is an ex international runner and cyclist who has combined her journey through Psychology, Health Promotion, and Sport and Exercise Psychology with a passion for the health and wellbeing of our rural communities. Mari is a lecturer in Psychology @UHIPsychology, based in Inverness.
One of the positives of lockdown has been the strengthening attachment between people and place as we have had time to truly inhabit where we live: to watch the changing light, observe shoals of fish moving across the bay, the changing weather and the changing seasons. Furthermore, being “in this together” has encouraged communities to work together to protect each other from the virus and support those who are isolated. Research has shown that feeling a sense of belonging to a group enhances wellbeing through increasing resilience and the ability to cope with stress (Jetten et al. 2017). The more we feel a part of our communities, the more likely we are to both offer support to others, and accept offers of support from others (Rees, Haslam, Coffee & Lavallee, 2015). As lockdown eases and we move towards a new normal, one way to strengthen the ties between people and place within our coastal communities is community coastal rowing.
Coastal rowing involves communities working together to fundraise and then build their own boats, requiring a recognition of different skill sets within the community. Once built the skiffs can be rowed purely for pleasure, known as “social rows”, with plenty of stops for observing wildlife and for tea and cake, or can be rowed competitively with a view to competing in regattas both locally and further afield.
One of the anomalies of the intersection between research and lived experience is the evidence suggesting the health benefits of living near water include access to “blue space” as a means of reducing stress, increased opportunities for physical activity which can enhance both physical and mental wellbeing, and increased opportunities for social interaction, which can also improve mood. Yet the rural communities I have lived in as an adult (Shetland, and the Black Isle) have both tragically been affected by suicide, suggesting that this mental health benefit of closeness to the sea was not having the health benefits research studies would suggest.
As part of my MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology I approached local rowing clubs on the Black Isle to investigate the impact of coastal rowing on social identity and wellbeing. The clubs agreed to take part, with one stipulation being that I joined my local club. Whilst pulling together a project proposal over midwinter 2018, I was getting out for my first rows with my neighbours.
Stage one of the study was a cross sectional survey of health, wellbeing, and social identity. Positive moderate correlations provided support for the link between social identity (feeling part of the community) and mental wellbeing, physical health, team efficacy and social support received. Team efficacy (belief in the team) was strongly correlated with social support both offered and received. The correlation between shared social identity and physical wellbeing supports findings by Haslam et al. (2018) that social integration and belonging protects against all cause mortality. Also, the more people identify with the community rowing club, the more likely they are to adopt the positive health norms found within the rowing club (Haslam & Haslam, 2019).
Social support received was linked to social identity, perhaps showing that people were more able to accept support from people who are part of their group, rather than seeing the offer of support as patronising, or accepting support as embarrassing (Haslam & Haslam, 2019). Meanwhile team efficacy was correlated with both physical and mental wellbeing, social support offered and received, and social identity. Building shared social identity through community rowing also enhanced collective efficacy, as predicted by previous studies (Fransen et al. 2014). Previous research has shown synchronicity and shared flow mediates the relationship between social identity and collective efficacy (Zumeta et al. 2016). Coastal rowing requires engagement of all the senses whilst sharing the physical conditions on the water, leading to emotional and physical synchronicity between rowers, therefore boosting social identity and collective efficacy.
Phase 2 of the research involved a photo elicitation study of individuals’ experiences of community rowing. 10 interviews took place with members of rowing clubs in both Avoch and Cromarty, with a mix of ages and gender. The interview data was analysed and interpreted into 5 themes.
The first was the theme of Dùthchas, the tie between people and place. This was a broad theme which really captured how community rowing had enhanced their connection to place. This theme included an understanding of the heritage of the local communities, passing on traditional skills to youngsters, connection to both people and place, an awareness of traditional narratives around the sea, and enhanced connection to nature. A feeling of freedom and being able to travel anywhere by sea was articulated, as well as an appreciation of the different perspectives to be gained by being on the water and having a different view of familiar places.
The next theme was self-concept, which captured how co-operating with others on the sea had changed people’s views of themselves. Participants described how they had exceeded their own expectations, both physically and with their proficiency on the boat. Coxing in particular has given leadership opportunities to people which boosted their confidence and self-esteem. Coastal rowing also gave a space for exploration of identity, with participants reflecting on their role and usefulness in relation to others, allowing participants to experience generativity: an involvement in the world and a useful role within it (Erickson & Erickson, 1997).
A major thread throughout the data was how being involved in coastal rowing had enhanced a sense of belonging for participants. This included sub-themes of superordinate goals (working together enhanced the bonds both within and between communities), group identity, support, trust (described within crews as part of working together on the sea), and social cohesion. The rowing clubs were described as being like a family, with the intergenerational elements of rowing highlighted, as even those older members of the community who did not row, were involved in thinking about rowing and evaluating technique. This can be seen in the comments below from participant 10:
So she’s, I mean, my mother in law is 84 years old. Lives right on the front so her front window looks right out over the Firth, over the Bay. And she’ll sit, you know if it’s a rainy day or whatever, she’ll sit, and she’ll be watching, and she’ll watch a skiff going out, and she’ll watch it just playing about on the Bay. But she’ll talk about, because she’s hearing me talking etc. But she’ll talk about: oh their technique looks good, their timing..
Group identity and belonging was also expressed visually, as captured by the photo below:
Participants described the positive impact of community rowing on their health and wellbeing, with improved mental wellbeing encompassing recovery from mental ill health, improved emotional regulation, and improved coping with adverse life events. Improved physical health was described in relation to improved fitness and an increase in physical activity. Also included in this theme is motivation, with pleasure and enjoyment being key to participants’ involvement in community rowing.
The final theme identified was transformation. This incorporated the transformative effect engaging with the sea through community rowing had on participant’s individual lives, as described by Participant 1:
So I got into this, I just, it suddenly made me realise there is more to life than work, and I realised I needed to really change my life. So I ended up selling my business, literally because I wanted to row more. This was the catalyst for that, to make time for myself.
There was also a transformation in connection between people and place, with the coast line and the sea being reclaimed as a social space as described by Participant 2, ‘And a lot of the pensioners, every day at five o’clock went down and had a swim. That’s never happened in a long time.’ The communities themselves were transformed by the increased social cohesion and the focus on rowing throughout the community. This led to a change in social behaviours as captured by Participant 10:
Yeah. Definitely. It’s pulling things back where, I mean they do say that the coffee shops are the new pubs, but there’s so many people go along to there, it’s like: well we’ve had a row, now we’ll go and have a coffee and a chat. Or as you say there’s events on in the Pavilion where we’ll hold a quiz night or fundraising or whatever.
So it seems that involving members of rural coastal communities in superordinate goals involving physical activity within a blue space environment leads to people’s identities being interwoven with place, leading to enhanced wellbeing and a stronger sense of belonging to their respective communities.
Enhancing and building a strong shared social identity through coastal rowing should enable individuals to be more willing to both offer and accept help and support when needed, since support offered by in-group members is more likely to be viewed constructively and positively (Haslam, Reicher, & Levine, 2012). Building strong social identities spanning generations through community coastal rowing should help to reduce isolation which has a negative impact on physical and psychological health (McEwen & Gianaros, 2010), whilst also leading to a greater uptake of support offered and received at crucial points (Rees, Haslam, Coffee, & Lavallee, 2015). Increased openness to volunteering for the good of the whole community as mentioned within the study is supported by Levine and Manning (2013), who found that when social identities are salient, people are more likely to act in a pro-social manner to support the group. As coastal rowing is community based this means that for members of the community rowing clubs, their community identity has become strengthened, making them more likely to volunteer to support the wellbeing and goals of the whole community.
Lastly, undertaking this research has strengthened my connection to the local community, my friendships within the community and also my understanding and knowledge of the environment in which I live. Furthermore, it has re-connected me to a part of myself I hadn’t been aware I was missing. Having grown up spending long periods of time at sea, I hadn’t realised how much I missed it until I was back on the water. Becoming involved in coastal rowing has re-connected me to my childhood, as well as connecting me to my ancestors who respectively crossed from Sweden to the UK as herring fishers, crossed from the west coast of Ireland to the UK for work, and to our Shetland relatives who explored the world from their coastal base.
References
Fransen, K., Coffee, P., Vanbeselaere, N., Slater, M., De Cuyper, B., & Boen, F. (2014). The impact of athlete leaders on team members’ team outcome confidence: A test of mediation by team identification and collective efficacy. Sport Psychologist, 28(4), 347-360.
Jetten, J., Haslam, S. A., Cruwys, T., Greenaway, K. H., Haslam, C., & Steffens, N. K. (2017). Advancing the social identity approach to health and wellbeing: Progressing the social cure research agenda: Applying the social cure. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47(7), 789-802. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2333
Haslam, H., & Haslam, S.A. (2019). Social Sciences and Health: A Framework for Building and Strengthening Social Connectedness. In Willams, R. et al. (Eds.), Social Scaffolding. Applying the Lessons of Contemporary Social Science to Health and Healthcare (pp.23-30). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Haslam, C., Jetten, J., Cruwys, T., Dingle, G., & Haslam, S. A. (2018). The new psychology of health: Unlocking the social cure (pp.360).Abingdon, Oxon:Routledge.
Haslam, S. A., McMahon, C., Cruwys, T., Haslam, C., Jetten, J., & Steffens, N. K. (2018). Social cure, what social cure? The propensity to underestimate the importance of social factors for health. Social Science & Medicine, 198, 14-21.
Haslam, S. A., Reicher, S.D. & Levine, M. (2012). When other people are heaven, when other people are hell: How social identity determines the nature and impact of social support. In J. Jetten, C. Haslam, & S.A. Haslam (Eds.), The social cure: Identity, health and wellbeing (pp.157-174). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
Levine, M., & Manning, R. (2013). Social identity, group processes, and helping in emergencies. European Review of Social Psychology, 24(1), 225-251.
McEwen, B. S., & Gianaros, P. J. Central role of the brain in stress and adaptation: Links to socioeconomic status, health, and disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186, 190-222. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05331.x
Rees, T., Haslam, S. A., Coffee, P., & Lavallee, D. (2015). A social identity approach to sport psychology: Principles, practice, and prospects. Sports medicine, 45(8), 1083-1096.
Zumeta, L. N., Oriol, X., Telletxea, S., Amutio, A., & Basabe, N. (2016). Collective efficacy in sports and physical activities: Perceived emotional synchrony and shared flow. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 1960.
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Enchantment and Wonder 
Very interesting! We tried to get Inveraray interested in Coastal rowing, as an effort to increase the ” Community Spirit” by building a Skiff together. But only a few people were interested ! We broadend our catchment area, to include communities around the shores of Upper Loch Fyne. . . .BINGO! We now have a lively bunch of people working together! (But the Coronavirus 19 Pandemic has not helped! but the enthusiasm is still there.)
Martyn Webster (Secretary, Upper Loch Fyne Coastal Rowing Club .
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