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Surfing instructors can play an important role both in preventing sport related injuries and as first responders in water emergencies events. Even though Portugal is a predominantly oceanic country, with many people enrolling in water sports activities, we still don't have a clear insight of the knowledge and educational practices of surfing instructors concerning both injury prevention and first response actions. This study aimed to analyze the educational practices on prevention of surf-related injuries of Portuguese surfing instructors and their knowledge and experience acting as first responders in the sea. A cross-sectional study was designed, using an online survey distributed by all surfing schools registered at Portuguese Surfing Federation to their instructors. The survey included a brief demographic characterization, questions regarding teaching practices about prevention of surfing-related injuries and knowledge/experience acting as first responders at the sea. Data was collected anonymously using Google Forms. A total of 102 instructors participated in the study. The analysis of the survey responses showed that 93.2% of surfing instructors are aware of the importance of prevention habits for teaching but skip some major preventive measures when teaching novice surfers. Nevertheless, the instructors with more than 15 years of experience provide more feedback on prevention habits during classes than instructors with less experience (p=0.019). When looking at self-perceptions of own competence to act in a drowning event, the instructors who have attended a basic life support course asserted to be more competent than those who never attended a course (p<0.05). These findings suggest that it would be very positive that all surfing schools followed the same protocol, giving due importance to prevention measures. Moreover, surfing instructors can play an important role in first response to drowning events but might have some training flaws that should be considered as part of a Water Safety National Strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. This study investigated self-reported occupational injuries among mothers in a large birth cohort study and the relation of their characteristics to different injury outcomes: occurrence, severity, temporal proximity and recurrence. Methods. We asked 4338 women whether they had been in 'an accident at work, even if it did not require medical treatment', and the number of accidents throughout their working life, type of injury and whether it occurred within the last 12 months. Results. Over one-fifth (21.8%) of working-age mothers reported having at least one occupational injury throughout their working life. Wounds and superficial injuries were the most frequently reported types of occupational injuries (11.0%), followed by dislocated bones and joints, sprains and strains (10.7%). Women who reported a history of occupational injuries also had a higher likelihood of reporting a work-related health problem (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.64; 95% confidence interval [CI] [2.27, 3.07]) and of having a partner who also reported an occupational injury throughout their working life (adjusted OR = 1.86; 95% CI [1.33, 2.62]). Associations remained fairly stable across all outcomes. Conclusions. Our findings point towards a broadened understanding of occupational injury consequences and research focusing on family-level factors that account for the embeddedness of workers in households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since 2014, drowning has received increased political attention. Translating this political commitment to saving lives needs policy-supported evidence-informed interventions. An evidence gap map (EGM) was developed, which aims to facilitate the strategic prioritisation of future research and efficient commissioning of interventions., Methods: Available evidence was sought by searching four electronic databases using drowning key terms from 2005 to 2023. Peer-reviewed studies, which measured the outcome of a drowning prevention intervention, were included in the EGM. Classification of interventions was guided by the WHO's recommendations for drowning prevention interventions and strategies. Intervention outcomes were classified into health, social, economic, policy and other supporting outcomes., Results: 49 intervention studies were identified. Of these, 25 studies were conducted in high-income countries (HICs), 19 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), 3 in both HICs and LMICs and 2 were not country specific. Interventions, which used community education, were the most common (n=29, 27%), followed by teaching school-age children swimming and water safety skills (n=13, 12%) and others combined (n=66, 61%). Majority of interventions focused on process outcomes such as knowledge acquisition (n=42, 39%) in comparison with objective outcomes such as incidence of drowning mortality (n=21, 19%). No studies reported on interventions that manage flood risks., Conclusions: Knowledge gaps of effective drowning prevention interventions were identified using an EGM, emphasising the need for methodological advancements reporting on outcomes measures, implementation research and targeted research among high-risk populations in LMICs., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Disclaimers: The authors do not have any disclaimers. Sources of support: J-PS is supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. JJ is supported by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council fellowship as emerging leader level 2. Disclosure of relationships and activities: J-PS is employed by the Royal Life Saving Society—Australia and is a doctoral candidate at The George Institute for Global Health, UNSW, Australia., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ Group.)

Introduction: Imprecise data systems hinder understanding of drowning burden, even in high-income countries like Portugal, that have a well-implemented death certificate system. Consequently, national studies on drowning mortality are scarce. We aimed to explore drowning mortality in Portugal using national data and to compare these to Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimates., Methods: Data were obtained from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) for 1992-2019, using International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 and ICD-10 codes, by sex, age group and cause (unintentional; water transport and intentional). GBD unintentional drowning data were obtained online. Age-standardised drowning rates were calculated and compared., Results: INE data showed 6057 drowning deaths, 4327 classified as unintentional (75.2% male; 36.7% 35-64 years; 31.5% 65+years; 15.2% 0-19 years). Following 2001, an increase in accidental drowning mortality and corresponding decrease in undetermined intent was observed, coincident with Portugal's ICD-10 implementation. GBD modelled estimates followed a downward trend at an overall rate of decrease of -0.41/decade (95% CI (-0.45 to -0.37); R 2 adj =0.94; p<0.05). Conversely, INE data showed an increase in the rate of drowning deaths over the last decade (0.35/decade; 95% CI (-0.18 to 0.89)). GBD estimates were significantly different from the INE dataset (alpha=0.05), either underestimating as much as 0.567*INE in 1996 or overestimating as much as 1.473*INE in 2011., Conclusions: While GBD mortality data estimates are valuable in the absence of routinely collected data, they smooth variations, concealing key advocacy opportunities. Investment in country-level drowning registries enables in-depth analysis of incident circumstances. Such data are essential to informing National Water Safety Plans., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)