Swim England refresh health fact sheets to encourage greater access to swimming

Swim England has relaunched a selection of its swimming with health conditions fact sheets following a review project supported by University of Nottingham.

Adjusted figures show that there are approximately 5.4 million people across the UK living with asthma and 1 million people with dementia – just two of the condition areas supported by the fact sheets.

Six of a total suite of 14 fact sheets have been reviewed covering asthma, Covid recovery, dementia, ear infection, epilepsy, and glandular fever.

The six facts sheets were the first to be developed by the national governing body in 2018-19, with expert input from members of the Swimming and Health Commission group and other partners.

They were followed by eight more recently developed fact sheets covering cancer, diabetes, mental health, musculoskeletal conditions, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, skin conditions, stroke, and swimming before and after surgery.

The review process was carried out by a physiotherapy undergraduate team under supervision of Fiona Moffatt, Associate Professor & Director of Professional Development and Wellbeing within the School of Health Sciences and Swimming and Health Commission member.

The process involved identifying necessary changes to ensure that the fact sheets were both technically accurate in terms of any new or conflicting evidence, but also for accessibility, ensuring that language was appropriate to the public and professional audiences, making it clearer and easier to understand.

Superb, technically accurate resources

The team of Ashira Sears, Eleanor Eaves and Emma Bowen identified important changes across the six condition themes, which were then reviewed by the original expert authors, to ensure technical accuracy, before being relaunched again for the benefit of swimmers and those who support people with long term health conditions to swim.

Andrew Power, Swim England water wellbeing specialist, explained: “Our collection of fact sheets have been viewed by more than 306,000 visitors to our Just Swim public facing website area and electronic versions have been downloaded more than 26,000 times by members of the public and professionals since launching in May 2019.

“The fact sheets are hugely popular, not just with people thinking about swimming, but also with those in various professional roles who want to understand how they can support people with long term health conditions to have great experiences in the water.

“This is the second review of the fact sheets, which means people can be assured that they are of the highest possible quality, technically accurate and up to date.”

Invaluable, accessible and evidence-based information

Professor Moffatt explained the involvement of the University in the review and the significance of this kind of information.

“The School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham takes great pride in collaborating with Swim England to co-create accessible and impactful information about exercising in water,” she said.

“Engaging our Physiotherapy students in this mission has been the next step in our partnership. Our goal at the University of Nottingham is to develop a generation of physiotherapy graduates who can lead, adapt, and impact. Els, Ashira, and Emma effectively demonstrated these qualities through their work.

“We hope this marks just the beginning of an ongoing partnership between our students and Swim England.”

The fact sheets have also proven to be a valuable resource for healthcare professionals, with reported examples of their content being supportive during discussions between professionals and their patients.

Such discussions are increasing in frequency, evident by the growth in the number of people accessing Swim England’s Water Wellbeing programme and through the popularity of the National Governing Bodies’ Swimming as Medicine campaign and newly developed NHS England Aquatic Activity and Swimming for Health elearning module.

It is hoped the fact sheets will continue to be accessed by thousands more, supporting decisions to be more active and helping people to better understand the many benefits being active in water has to offer.

The review of the remaining fact sheets is set to begin in September this year, with updated versions relaunching this time next year.