Non-work-related farm fatalities in Australia, 1989-1992

Fatal river drowning: the identification of research gaps through a systematic literature review

INTRODUCTION

Drowning is a leading cause of unintentional death. Rivers are a common location for drowning. Unlike other location-specific prevention efforts (home swimming pools and beaches), little is known about prevention targeting river drowning deaths.

METHODS

A systematic literature review was undertaken using English language papers published between 1980 and 2014, exploring gaps in the literature, with a focus on epidemiology, risk factors and prevention strategies for river drowning.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine papers were deemed relevant to the study design including 21 (72.4%) on epidemiology, 18 (62.1%) on risk factors and 10 (34.5%) that proposed strategies for prevention. Risk factors identified included age, falls into water, swimming, using watercraft, sex and alcohol.

DISCUSSION

Gaps were identified in the published literature. These included a lack of an agreed definition for rivers, rates for fatal river drowning (however, crude rates were calculated for 12 papers, ranging from 0.20 to 1.89 per 100 000 people per annum), and consensus around risk factors, especially age. There was only one paper that explored a prevention programme; the remaining nine outlined proposed prevention activities. There is a need for studies into exposure patterns for rivers and an agreed definition (with consistent coding).

CONCLUSIONS

This systematic review has identified that river drowning deaths are an issue in many regions and countries around the world. Further work to address gaps in the published research to date would benefit prevention efforts.

Recall of farm hazards in Australian primary school age children using a 3-d visual cue test

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the 'Spot the Hazard' farm safety resource which employs 3-D visual stimuli to develop rudimentary risk assessment skills in children. Primary school children from three local schools in north-west New South Wales were presented with the resource and talked about the farm hazards present. Children's recall of the hazards and the extent to which they compared the resource to their own farm was assessed after an initial presentation at post-tests of 1, 14 and 28 days, across three experimental groups. Individual differences in achievement were controlled for using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Screener (WIAT). Analysis revealed that children exposed to the resource recalled significantly more hazards and made more comparisons to their own farm experiences than controls. However, differences on individual achievement were observed between groups due to a lack of randomisation. Farm safety educational resources for children are more effective when verbal and nonverbal strategies are used and when children are exposed to such cues repeatedly. The development of farm safety educational resources for children which employ spatial cues is encouraged. Further clarification of results would entail a more rigorous randomised control trial.