Swimming is one of the most popular forms of low impact sport and exercise. According to Sport Australia 2019 AusPlay national survey findings, each year approximately 15 in every 100 Australian adults aged 15 and over use aquatic facilities or clubs for swimming. Regular and appropriately designed swimming programs can offer various preventive health benefits against musculoskeletal and metabolic chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular. However, drowning associated with pre-existing medical conditions continues to be one of the leading causes of death and immobility.
Research student Patricia English at CQUniversity has the potential to help Australian public aquatic facilities reduce the risk of drowning through an investigation into the effects of pre-existing medical conditions.
“Drowning is a continued risk, particularly in Australia with our water-based culture.
“Those with pre-existing medical conditions have an even greater risk of drowning,” she explained.
Coupled with 17-years of experience as a swimming instructor, the Research Higher Degree (RHD) student felt there was a need for further research into risk mitigation given the wide array of aquatic patrons in Australia.
“There will hopefully be numerous groups that benefit from this research. Most people, at some point in their life, visit a public aquatic facility – even just to cool down on a hot day.
“I have been swimming training since I was five years old and like most Australians love the water which inspired me to become involved in aquatic risk management research.
“The fewer risks on-site mean will result in a safer environment for staff and patrons.”
Ms English said there would be two components to her research to provide a comprehensive overview of both aquatic facility staff and users.
“We have developed two surveys to distribute to staff and patrons of public aquatic facilities.
“These may give different viewpoints of what is considered risky in an aquatic facility and what we can implement to decrease this.”
It will be these differences in findings that will assist Ms English to identify current areas for improvement and risk management strategies.
“We expect to find several risks which may differ between staff and user.
“One outcome could look at the implementation of pre- exercise screening and find methods to decrease the risk for people/staff with pre-existing medical conditions,” Ms English said.
Risk management expert and principal supervisor on the research study Dr Betul Sekendiz said the current COVID-19 pandemic has made the need for this research even greater.
“The findings of this study will be crucial to manage risks to participants with pre-existing medical conditions at aquatic facilities who may be at higher risk of adverse outcomes from COVID-19.”
If you have further questions or any concerns regarding the study, please contact Patricia English email: patricia.english@cqumail.com
To complete the surveys, please visit:
For public aquatic facility patrons – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SAFE_Participant
For public aquatic facility staff – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SAFE_Staff
Note. This story originally appeared at https://www.cqu.edu.au/cquninews/stories/research-category/2020-research/cqu-research-dives-into-drowning-prevention-strategies on 29 July 2020.