Journal article
Are parents just treading water? The impact of participation in swim lessons on parents’ judgments of children's drowning risk, swimming ability, and supervision needs
Accident analysis and prevention, Vol.50, pp.1169-1175
01/2013
DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2012.09.008
PMID: 23046692
Abstract
► Drowning is a significant risk for young children. ► Lessons can reduce risk once children can swim. ► Lessons reduced parents’ perceptions of supervision needs. ► Parents also believed children could keep themselves safe. ► Adding a parent-focused component to child swim lessons is needed.
Drowning is a leading cause of child mortality globally. Strategies that have been suggested to reduce pediatric drowning risk include increased parental awareness of children's swimming ability and drowning risk, improved adult supervision of child swimmers, and providing swim lessons to children. This study explored how parents’ beliefs relevant to children's drowning risk, perception of children's swimming ability, and judgments of supervision needs changed as children aged two through 5 years accumulated experience in swim lessons, and compared a parent group who received regular, detailed feedback about their child's swim skills with one that did not. Parents completed questionnaire measures near the beginning and end of a series of 10 weekly swim lessons. Results revealed that parental accuracy in judging children's swimming abilities remained relatively poor even though it improved from the beginning to the end of the swim lessons. Supervision needs were underestimated and did not vary with program or change over the course of swim lessons. Children's ability to keep themselves from drowning was overestimated and did not change over lessons or vary with program; parents believed that children could save themselves from drowning by the age of 6.21 years. Parents who had experienced a close call for drowning showed greater awareness of children's drowning risk and endorsed more watchful and proximal supervision. Results suggest that expanding learn-to-swim programs to include a parent-focused component that provides detailed tracking of swim skills and delivers messaging targeting perceptions of children's drowning risk and supervision needs may serve to maximize the drowning protection afforded by these programs. Delivering messaging in the form of ‘close-call’ drowning stories may prove especially effective to impact parents’ supervision practices in drowning risk situations.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Are parents just treading water? The impact of participation in swim lessons on parents’ judgments of children's drowning risk, swimming ability, and supervision needs
- Creators
- Barbara A. Morrongiello - University of GuelphMegan Sandomierski - University of GuelphDavid C. Schwebel - University of Alabama at BirminghamBrent Hagel - University of Calgary
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Accident analysis and prevention, Vol.50, pp.1169-1175
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.aap.2012.09.008
- PMID
- 23046692
- NLM abbreviation
- Accid Anal Prev
- ISSN
- 0001-4575
- eISSN
- 1879-2057
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Number of pages
- 7
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/2013
- Academic Unit
- Research Administration
- Record Identifier
- 9984949196402771
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