Faculty of Health Federation University Australia Mt Helen, Ballarat, VIC, Australia.
Faculty of Health Federation University Australia Mt Helen, Ballarat, VIC, Australia.
Accid Anal Prev. 2014 Sep;70:188-94. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2014.04.006. Epub 2014 May 3.
Worldwide, epidemiological data indicate that children are a high-risk group for drowning and while progress has been made in understanding toddler drownings, there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding the drowning risk and protective factors inherent for adolescents and young adults. This study used a self-report questionnaire to establish swimming and water safety knowledge and attitudes of young adults and objectively measured their actual swimming ability using formal practical testing procedures. Participants then completed a short, 12-week intervention that encompassed swimming, survival and rescue skills, along with water safety knowledge applicable to a range of aquatic environments. Knowledge, attitudes and swimming ability were then re-measured following the intervention to evaluate its effectiveness. The Wilcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test was performed to detect whether there were significant differences between knowledge, attitude and swim ability scores pre-intervention and post-intervention. A total of 135 participants completed the baseline and follow up questionnaire and all practical testing. Results indicated that these young adults had a very low level of water safety knowledge pre-intervention, although the majority had sound swimming and water safety skills and attitudes. Overall, significant improvements were evident in knowledge (p<0.001) and swim ability (p<0.001) post-intervention, although no changes were observed in attitudes (p=0.079). Previous participation in formal swimming lessons and/or swimming within the school curriculum had no significant impact on water safety knowledge, skills or attitudes of these young adults, and there were few significant gender differences. While it is important to conduct further studies to confirm that these findings are consistent with a more representative sample of young adults, our findings are the first to provide empirical evidence of the value of a comprehensive aquatic education program as a drowning prevention strategy for young adults.
全球范围内的流行病学数据表明，儿童是溺水的高危人群，尽管在了解幼儿溺水方面已经取得了一定进展，但对于青少年和年轻成年人的溺水风险和固有保护因素，仍缺乏实证证据。本研究使用自我报告问卷来确定年轻成年人的游泳和水上安全知识和态度，并通过正式的实践测试程序客观测量他们的实际游泳能力。然后，参与者完成了一个为期 12 周的简短干预计划，包括游泳、生存和救援技能，以及适用于各种水上环境的水上安全知识。在干预后再次测量知识、态度和游泳能力，以评估其效果。采用 Wilcoxon 匹配对符号秩检验来检测干预前后知识、态度和游泳能力得分是否存在显著差异。共有 135 名参与者完成了基线和随访问卷以及所有的实践测试。结果表明，这些年轻成年人在干预前的水上安全知识水平非常低，尽管大多数人具有良好的游泳和水上安全技能和态度。总的来说，干预后知识（p<0.001）和游泳能力（p<0.001）有显著提高，尽管态度没有变化（p=0.079）。先前参加过正式的游泳课和/或学校课程中的游泳课程，对这些年轻成年人的水上安全知识、技能或态度没有显著影响，而且性别差异也很少。虽然有必要进一步研究来确认这些发现与更具代表性的年轻成年人样本一致，但我们的研究结果首次提供了实证证据，证明全面的水上教育计划作为预防年轻人溺水的策略具有价值。
