Royal Life Saving Society - Australia, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia.
School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Aug 7;23(1):1499. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16392-2.
Co-ordinated, evidence-based policy and programmatic efforts are needed to respond to complex drowning prevention problems. Comprehensive, current, and robust data are vital for agenda setting, burden and risk factor identification, intervention design and evaluation, as well as setting policy. We aim to record methods used in, and identify impacts of, the development of a national fatal drowning database (NFDD) in Australia, including lessons learned across research, policy, and practice.
We employ a case study method using process mapping and document review to explore the evolution, drivers and impacts of the NFDD. We analyse methodological approaches including those relating to data definitions, drowning case collection, and management, as well as tracking the various outputs of the NFDD. We describe a development timeline that presents impact of drowning prevention policy, and research agendas on database development, and research investments more specifically.
Our study identified that the collected variables grew 20-fold from 2002 to 2022, reaching 259 variables, and 5,692 unique cases of fatal drowning. The NFDD employs data triangulation methodology, combining keyword and targeted searches of coronial files, media report monitoring, and organisational data provision. Database development is influenced by the Australia Water Safety Strategy, policymaker and practitioner-initiated research agendas, and identification of knowledge gaps. We identified numerous outputs spanning publications, media, intervention development, and legislative submissions.
A comprehensive and robust NFDD informed by policymaker and practitioner input can enhance surveillance, policy, and intervention development for drowning prevention. Employing mixed data collection and validation methods can supplement weaknesses in official data sources. There is a need for the NFDD to continue to evolve in its application while maintaining rigorous case identification and data quality assurance processes. Despite significant investment, the outputs and influence on drowning prevention practice in Australia has been extremely valuable and contributed to sizeable reductions in Australia's fatal drowning rate.
需要协调一致、基于证据的政策和规划工作来应对复杂的溺水预防问题。全面、当前和强大的数据对于制定议程、确定负担和风险因素、设计和评估干预措施以及制定政策至关重要。我们旨在记录澳大利亚国家致命溺水数据库（NFDD）发展中使用的方法，并确定其影响，包括在研究、政策和实践方面的经验教训。
我们采用案例研究方法，使用流程映射和文件审查来探讨 NFDD 的演变、驱动因素和影响。我们分析了包括数据定义、溺水案例收集和管理相关方法，以及跟踪 NFDD 的各种产出。我们描述了一个发展时间表，展示了溺水预防政策和研究议程对数据库发展以及更具体的研究投资的影响。
我们的研究表明，从 2002 年到 2022 年，收集的变量数量增加了 20 倍，达到 259 个变量和 5692 个独特的致命溺水案例。NFDD 采用了数据三角测量方法，结合了验尸档案的关键字和有针对性搜索、媒体报道监测以及组织数据提供。数据库的发展受到澳大利亚水安全战略、政策制定者和实践者发起的研究议程以及知识差距的识别的影响。我们确定了许多跨越出版物、媒体、干预措施发展和立法提交的产出。
一个由政策制定者和实践者提供信息的全面而强大的 NFDD 可以加强溺水预防的监测、政策和干预措施的制定。采用混合数据收集和验证方法可以补充官方数据源的弱点。NFDD 需要继续在其应用中发展，同时保持严格的案例识别和数据质量保证流程。尽管投资巨大，但 NFDD 在澳大利亚的溺水预防实践中的产出和影响是非常有价值的，并促成了澳大利亚致命溺水率的大幅下降。
