The effect of the 'Swim Reaper' program on water safety awareness, drowning mortality and morbidity among males aged 15-34 years in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved..

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To increase water safety awareness among young males New Zealand introduced the Swim Reaper program in 2016. The program ran annually over summer and in 2018/19 an evaluation was conducted. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the 2018/19 Swim Reaper social media-based campaign on self-reported water safety awareness and identify changes in fatal and nonfatal drowning rates for New Zealand resident males aged 15-34 years before and after the 2016 Swim Reaper program.

METHODS: Online surveys pre (December-2018) and post (February-March-2019) Swim Reaper campaign were used to estimate water safety awareness post-campaign relative to pre-campaign using negative binomial regression adjusted for potential confounders. Interrupted time series (ITS) analysis, adjusted for seasonality, explored changes in drowning mortality, hospital admissions and Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) claims pre and post program introduction (2016).

RESULTS: A total of 518 males responded (50.6% post-campaign). There were significant improvements (post vs. pre-campaign) in self-reported water safety awareness. ITS analysis showed a reduction in drowning related hospital admissions post relative to pre-program (RR = 0.47; [95%CI: 0.24-0.90]; p = 0.02).

DISCUSSION: Young males are an at-risk cohort for drowning and creating behavior change among this group can be challenging. Using a unique, humor-based approach the Swim Reaper program appears to be having some impact on self-reported water safety behaviors, as well as unintentional drowning-related hospitalization rates. Further evaluation, more clearly linked to campaign themes, is required to ascertain direct impact of the program.

CONCLUSION: The novelty and reach of the campaign within the context of a prevailing downward trend in drownings may provide support for social media-based programs targeting this hard-to-reach demographic.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:88

Enthalten in:

Journal of safety research - 88(2024) vom: 07. Feb., Seite 190-198

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Peden, Amy E [VerfasserIn]
Williamson, Simon [VerfasserIn]
Fozard, Felicity [VerfasserIn]
Hanly, Mark [VerfasserIn]
Möller, Holger [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

059QF0KO0R
Adolescent
Behavior change
Drowning
Journal Article
Male
Prevention
Public awareness
Risk
Water
Water safety

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 18.03.2024

Date Revised 18.03.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.jsr.2023.11.006

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM369750527