IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i10p3557-d360119.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Learning to Swim: An Exploration of Negative Prior Aquatic Experiences Among Children

Author

Listed:
  • Amy E. Peden

    (Royal Life Saving Society, Sydney 2007, NSW, Australia
    College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, QLD, Australia
    School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney, Kensington 2052, NSW, Australia)

  • Richard C. Franklin

    (Royal Life Saving Society, Sydney 2007, NSW, Australia
    College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, QLD, Australia)

Abstract

Learning to swim via a structured program is an important skill to develop aquatic competencies and prevent drowning. Fear of water can produce phobic behaviors counterproductive to the learning process. No research examines the influence of negative aquatic experiences on learning to swim. This study explored the influence of children’s negative prior aquatic experiences (NPAE) on learn-to-swim achievement via swim school data. Children’s enrolment records (5–12 years) in the Australian Capital Territory were analyzed via demographics, level achieved and NPAE. NPAE was recorded as yes/no, with free text thematically coded to 16 categories. Of 14,012 records analyzed (51% female; 64% aged 6–8 years), 535 (4%) reported a NPAE at enrolment. Males, children with a medical condition and attending public schools were significantly more likely ( p = 0.001) to report a NPAE. Children reporting a NPAE achieved a lower average skill level at each year of age. The largest proportion (19%) of NPAE reported related to swimming lessons. NPAE have a detrimental influence on aquatic skill achievement. We recommend increased adult supervision to reduce likelihood of an NPAE occurring, while also encouraging swim instructors to consider NPAE when teaching swimming and develop procedures to ensure a NPAE does not occur during instruction.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy E. Peden & Richard C. Franklin, 2020. "Learning to Swim: An Exploration of Negative Prior Aquatic Experiences Among Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-16, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:10:p:3557-:d:360119
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/10/3557/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/10/3557/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aminur Rahman & Olakunle Alonge & Al-Amin Bhuiyan & Priyanka Agrawal & Shumona Sharmin Salam & Abu Talab & Qazi Sadeq-ur Rahman & Adnan A. Hyder, 2017. "Epidemiology of Drowning in Bangladesh: An Update," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-11, May.
    2. Richard C. Franklin & Amy E. Peden, 2017. "Improving Pool Fencing Legislation in Queensland, Australia: Attitudes and Impact on Child Drowning Fatalities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-15, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrzej Ostrowski & Arkadiusz Stanula & Andrzej Swinarew & Alexander Skaliy & Dariusz Skalski & Wojciech Wiesner & Dorota Ambroży & Krzysztof Kaganek & Łukasz Rydzik & Tadeusz Ambroży, 2022. "Individual Determinants as the Causes of Failure in Learning to Swim with the Example of 10-Year-Old Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-14, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carolina Burnay & David I. Anderson & Chris Button & Rita Cordovil & Amy E. Peden, 2022. "Infant Drowning Prevention: Insights from a New Ecological Psychology Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-9, April.
    2. Laura Cerland & Bruno Mégarbane & Hatem Kallel & Yanick Brouste & Hossein Mehdaoui & Dabor Resiere, 2017. "Incidence and Consequences of Near-Drowning–Related Pneumonia—A Descriptive Series from Martinique, French West Indies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-6, November.
    3. Lamisa Ashraf & Priyanka Agrawal & Aminur Rahman & Md. Al Amin Bhuiyan & Shumona Sharmin Salam & Qingfeng Li & Abdulgafoor M. Bachani, 2022. "Caregivers’ Compliance and Perception of Daycare Centers—A Community-Based Childhood Drowning Prevention Intervention Implemented in Rural Bangladesh," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-11, August.
    4. Lamisa Ashraf & Priyanka Agrawal & Aminur Rahman & Shumona Sharmin Salam & Qingfeng Li, 2019. "Burden of Lesser-Known Unintentional Non-Fatal Injuries in Rural Bangladesh: Findings from a Large-Scale Population-Based Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-9, September.
    5. Jagnoor Jagnoor & Medhavi Gupta & Aliki Christou & Rebecca Q. Ivers & Soumyadeep Bhaumik & Kamran Ul Baset & Kris Rogers & Aminur Rahman, 2021. "Challenges in Documenting Non-Fatal Drowning Disability in Bangladesh: A Community-Based Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-11, September.
    6. Medhavi Gupta & Aminur Rahman & Kamran ul Baset & Rebecca Ivers & Anthony B. Zwi & Shafkat Hossain & Fazlur Rahman & Jagnoor Jagnoor, 2019. "Complexity in Implementing Community Drowning Reduction Programs in Southern Bangladesh: A Process Evaluation Protocol," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-18, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:10:p:3557-:d:360119. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.