ABSTRACT
@#Introduction: The magnitude of drowning as one of the leading causes of death among children in Malaysia may have been underestimated. Little is known on the level of awareness on water safety among parents as it might be associated with appropriateness and adequacy of the supervision. This study aims to describe perceptions of water safety among parents of primary school children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with 719 respondent conducted to obtain information on parents self-reported on their children’s water-involved activity and swimming ability, self-estimated ability to rescue their child and perceptions of the risk of drowning and water safety for their children. Results: The result revealed that about 21.6% of respondents did not perceive drowning as one of the unintentional injury leading causes of death among children. Parents reported that their children had experienced a near- drowning incident (16.1%), and only 12.2% of the child had attended a formal swimming lesson. Majority of the parents did not involve in any water safety program (98.7%), can’t swim (61.6%), not been certified in CPR (87.3%) and not confident (87.3%) to perform resuscitation (CPR). Respondents also perceived their children could swim (42.1%), and they felt confident when their child in the water (45.6%). There were statistical differences between parents who reported their child had a near-drowning experience with their perception of children’s swimming ability. Conclusion: An exploration of parent’s perception of water safety provided an overview of the need for promoting awareness on drowning risk and water safety education in this country.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:To describe the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents in an urban coastal community on drowning prevention.METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used in the study. Systematic random sampling was used and 431 parents were included as respondents in the study. A questionnaire that was developed and pre-tested was used to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices on drowning prevention among parents in households with at least one child. RESULTS: The respondents' knowledge on general aspects of drowning such as its preventability and to whom and where it could happen seems to be sufficient (67-99%). Awareness of drowning prevention programs and activities in the barangay is quite low, and awareness of any legislation is even lower. The respondents seem to have positive attitudes toward supervising children while swimming or playing in high risk areas, in buying and wearing flotation devices, and participating in drowning prevention measures. Although 60 % claimed to have supervised their children while swimming in the sea, river, lake or swimming pools, more respondents (67 % - 88%) had admitted that their children had never worn flotation devices when they swim or play in most bodies of water. More than 93% of the parents have not participated in any program or activity on drowning prevention. CONCLUSIONS: The study seems to show that, in the surveyed coastal community, there is a high level of knowledge in terms of the general aspects of drowning and there are positive attitudes in terms of measures and activities to prevent drowning. However, this has not translated to similarly appropriate levels of drowning prevention practices.