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Understanding a population: A methodology for a population-based coastal safety survey
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8, p e0256202 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2021.
-
Abstract
- Drowning is a global public health problem, but accurately estimating drowning risk remains a challenge. Coastal drowning comprises a significant proportion of the drowning burden in Australia and is influenced by a range of behavioural factors (e.g. risk perception, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours) that are poorly understood. These factors, along with those that impact exposure (e.g. coastal visitation and activity participation) all impact on drowning risk. While excellent mortality and morbidity data exists in Australia, a lack of coastal participation data presents challenges to identifying high-risk groups or activities and prioritising prevention efforts. This methods paper describes the development and evolution of an ongoing, annual, nationally representative online survey as an effective tool used to capture valuable data about the Australian population’s relationship with the coast. This paper explores how the survey is structured (12–14 sections spanning multiple topics and themes), the different question types used (including open text, 4-digit responses and categorical questions), the sample size (1400–1600 respondents), sampling strategy (using demographic quota sampling which can then be post-weighted to the population if required) and how topics and themes have changed over time to enhance the quality of data collected (i.e., wording changes to enhance participant comprehension or data usability and changing issue-specific ‘feature’ topics of interest such as campaign evaluation). How the survey is implemented online is described, both practically through to third-party recruitment processes and ethically to maximise anonymity of respondents and ensure data quality. Interim analyses indicate the impact of considering exposure when calculating fatal drowning rates, especially by activity (e.g., crude boating drowning rate 0.12 per 100,000 population vs 0.95 per 100,000 exposed population [relative risk = 8.01; 95% confidence interval: 4.55–14.10]). This study highlights lessons learned in the process of conducting a nationally representative coastal participation survey as well as the strengths and limitations of adopting this approach. Data collected will provide more detailed information on the skills, behaviours, knowledge and attitudes of coastal activity participants. Analyses of this unique dataset will inform research that will underpin development and evaluation of coastal drowning prevention initiatives prioritising those most at risk. It is hoped that the methods detailed within this study may be useful for other countries to develop similar approaches to understanding their own population.
- Subjects :
- Questionnaires
Male
Topography
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Epidemiology
Physiology
Beaches
Diving
Social Sciences
Surveys
Geographical Locations
Psychological Attitudes
Risk Factors
Surveys and Questionnaires
Interim
Medicine and Health Sciences
Psychology
Water Sports
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
Middle Aged
Geography
Research Design
Medicine
Female
Public Health
Research Article
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
Science
Oceania
Population
Research and Analysis Methods
Risk-Taking
Environmental health
medicine
Humans
education
Swimming
Aged
Landforms
Survey Research
Drowning
Biological Locomotion
Public health
Australia
Biology and Life Sciences
Geomorphology
Risk perception
Comprehension
Attitude
Sample size determination
Medical Risk Factors
Data quality
People and Places
Quota sampling
Earth Sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 16
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLOS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....078065a055de9fb4f093a69fc548e2f8