Surf bather drowning risk and exposure-related factors identified by an expert panel
- Authors: Morgan, Damian , Ozanne-Smith, Joan
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education Vol. 6, no. 4 (2012 2012), p. 336-349
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- Description: In the absence of an established literature, identifying and quantifying surf bather drowning risk factors requires a clearly defined problem-focused research strategy. To initiate this strategy, nominal group technique (NGT) was used to identify and rank risk and water exposure-related factors based on consensus of an expert panel. The results identified, in order, level of experience (encompassing swimming ability in surf conditions), lack of local knowledge (encompassing awareness of surf hazards, including rip currents), and surf conditions (encompassing prevailing wave height and rip currents) as the three most influential surf bather drowning risk factors. Factors most influential on exposure to water were identi fied and ranked as prevailing weather geographic location (encompassing bather accessibility to the beach), and infrastructure (encompassing the presence of artificial beach amenities). This study provides direction for future analytic epidemiological research and complementary studies on drowning at surf beaches and other locations. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR
Development and trial of a water exposure measure of estimated drowning risk for surf bathers
- Authors: Morgan, Damian , Ozanne-Smith, Joan
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education Vol. 7, no. 2 (2013 2013), p. 116-135
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- Reviewed:
- Description: To better address drowning issues, risk assessment at the group and sample levels would be enhanced by precise measures of exposure to water. The aim of the study was to develop and pilot test a method of measuring exposure to water based on estimating immersions for surf bathers. Validated direct observation counts provided peak-bathing period point estimates and a daily bather immersion profile for an identified sampling frame comprising 20 beaches over 39 summer days. An estimated 10,089 water immersions occurred at the peak-bathing period in the sampling frame. Swimmers comprised 86.0% and surfers with equipment 14.0% of the observed bathing sample, respectively. For swimmers only on patrolled beaches, 77.1% bathed in the lifesaver supervised (flag) zones. The study has implications for the provision of organized bather supervision and provides a foundation for generation of hypotheses on the nature of drowning risk for selected surf bather groups.