The Psychology of Cave Divers - Research
Hello,
I am reaching out to the cave diving community for help with a research project am I working on. I am in my final year of undergrad at the University of Toronto, CA - completing a double major in psychology and neuroscience. I am conducting research that examines the types of coping strategies that cave divers utilize, encompassing any context of their lives, however emphasis is being placed on diving related matters.
This research has the potential to directly benefit the diving community at large and other pursuits of science and exploration which involve extreme and unusual environments (e.g. remote wilderness, arctic regions, and space). For instance, the research findings could be incorporated into diver training programs to help novice-divers become more effective at managing difficult and potentially life-threatening scenarios.
I am utilizing a research methodology known as thematic content analysis, and thus, I am looking for autobiographical content produced by cave divers. This can take the form of journals, memoirs, autobiographies, blogs, oral histories, or interviews (essentially anything in the first person). However, I am not looking for dive reports that are devoid of personal reflection or narrative. I also need a fair bit of content for any one diver (i.e. an amount of material that would exceed at least a half-hour of reading or listening time - the more the better).
Already included in my data set are the more obvious and accessible resources, such as the autobiographies Caverns Measureless to Man (Sheck Exley), Fatally Flawed : The Quest to the Deepest (Verna van Schaik), The Great Caving Adventure (Martyn Farr) and Deep Into Blue Holes: The Story of the Andros Project (Rob Palmer), to name a few.
I am now trying to tap into less obvious and accessible materials, including those not already in the public domain. So if you are aware of any good cave diving blogs (in any language), cave diving interviews or documentaries containing a lot of autobiographical content (not easily located via Google) - or if you yourself have autobiographical materials that you would be willing share in order to support this research - please drop me a message or reply to this thread. It would be immensely appreciated.
With respect to sharing any personal materials, this of course would be in complete confidence that they would be used strictly for research purposes and would remain secure at all times. If you have any friends or colleagues who you believe might be willing to help, connecting me with them would also be tremendously helpful.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this. Any help would be most appreciated. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Kind regards,
Raymond
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/raymond-macneil/61/ba5/501
P.S.
Here is some additional information about the research:
Coping, in the context of this study, is understood and defined in concordance with the work done by Lazarus, Folkman and colleagues (1984; 1986).
Thus coping is understood to be:
1. Process oriented
2. Influenced by the person's appraisal of the actual demands in the encounter and resources for managing them.
3. Shaped together by particular person and situation variables
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping.
New York: Springer.
DeLongis, A., Schetter, C., Folkman, S., Gruen, R. J., & Lazarus, R. S. (1986). Dynamics of a stressful encounter: cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes. Emmitsburg, MD: National Emergency Training Center.
Welcome to the Cave Diver's Forum.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by garethingham
Bookmarks