Measuring Australian Children’s Water Safety Knowledge: The National Water Safety Quiz

Water safety knowledge levels of Australian children are poorly understood. Royal Life Saving developed an online National Water Safety Quiz (NWSQ) as an interactive means of determining water safety knowledge amongst Australian primary school children (ages 5 to 12 years). Over a period of 8 months, a total of 4,215 children participated in the NWSQ. The NWSQ identified areas of water safety where knowledge was poor including the topics of CPR, swimming, and river safety. Children achieved a better result as they aged. Females out-performed males overall and specifically from ages 10-12 years. Children from independent schools performed better. This research is the first of its kind to measure water safety knowledge at a population level for primary school children, using an online web-based tool. Understanding children’s water safety knowledge is important as it enables the tailoring, delivery and evaluation of programs which help to reduce the burden of drowning

Understanding the full burden of drowning: a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of fatal and non-fatal drowning in Australia

Objectives: The epidemiology of fatal drowning is increasingly understood. By contrast, there is relatively little population-level research on non-fatal drowning. This study compares data on fatal and non-fatal drowning in Australia, identifying differences in outcomes to guide identification of the best practice in minimising the lethality of exposure to drowning. Design: A subset of data on fatal unintentional drowning from the Royal Life Saving National Fatal Drowning Database was compared on a like-for-like basis to data on hospital separations sourced from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's National Hospital Morbidity Database for the 13-year period 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2015. A restrictive definition was applied to the fatal drowning data to estimate the effect of the more narrow inclusion criteria for the non-fatal data (International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes W65-74 and first reported cause only). Incidence and ratios of fatal to non-fatal drowning with univariate and X 2 analysis are reported and used to calculate case-fatality rates. ' Setting: Australia, 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2015. Participants: Unintentional fatal drowning cases and cases of non-fatal drowning resulting in hospital separation. Results: 2272 fatalities and 6158 hospital separations occurred during the study period, a ratio of 1:2.71. Children 0-4 years (1:7.63) and swimming pools (1:4.35) recorded high fatal to non-fatal ratios, whereas drownings among people aged 65-74 years (1:0.92), 75+ years (1:0.87) and incidents in natural waterways (1:0.94) were more likely to be fatal. Conclusions: This study highlights the extent of the drowning burden when non-fatal incidents are considered, although coding limitations remain. Documenting the full burden of drowning is vital to ensuring that the issue is fully understood and its prevention adequately resourced. Further research examining the severity of non-fatal drowning cases requiring hospitalisation and tracking outcomes of those discharged will provide a more complete picture

Using a retrospective cross-sectional study to analyse unintentional fatal drowning in Australia: ICD-10 coding-based methodologies verses actual deaths

Objectives: Fatal drowning estimates using a single underlying cause of death (UCoD) may under-represent the number of drowning deaths. This study explores how data vary by International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 coding combinations and the use of multiple underlying causes of death using a national register of drowning deaths. Design: An analysis of ICD-10 external cause codes of unintentional drowning deaths for the period 2007-2011 as extracted from an Australian total population unintentional drowning database developed by Royal Life Saving Society-Australia (the Database). The study analysed results against three reporting methodologies: primary drowning codes (W65-74), drowning-related codes, plus cases where drowning was identified but not the UCoD. Setting: Australia, 2007-2011. Participants: Unintentional fatal drowning cases. Results: The Database recorded 1428 drowning deaths. 866 (60.6%) had an UCoD of W65-74 (accidental drowning), 249 (17.2%) cases had an UCoD of either T75.1 (0.2%), V90 (5.5%), V92 (3.5%), X38 (2.4%) or Y21 (5.9%) and 53 (3.7%) lacked ICD coding. Children (aged 0-17 years) were closely aligned (73.9%); however, watercraft (29.2%) and non-aquatic transport (13.0%) were not. When the UCoD and all subsequent causes are used, 67.2% of cases include W65-74 codes. 91.6% of all cases had a drowning code (T75.1, V90, V92, W65-74, X38 and Y21) at any level. Conclusion: Defining drowning with the codes W65-74 and using only the UCoD captures 61% of all drowning deaths in Australia. This is unevenly distributed with adults, watercraft and non-aquatic transport-related drowning deaths under-represented. Using a wider inclusion of ICD codes, which are drowning-related and multiple causes of death minimises this under-representation. A narrow approach to counting drowning deaths will negatively impact the design of policy, advocacy and programme planning for prevention

Fatal, unintentional drowning in older people: an assessment of the role of preexisting medical conditions

Background: The number of older people (aged 65 y and over) is increasing in Australia and chronic medical conditions are common. Aquatic activities provide physical and social benefits; however, understanding the risks related to aquatic activity is important for ongoing health and wellbeing. We explore the impact of preexisting medical conditions on unintentional fatal drowning among older people in Australia. Methods: Using coronial, forensic, and medical histories from the Australian National Coronial Information System, all cases of unintentional death by drowning (or where drowning was a factor) among older people in Australia between July 1, 2002 and June 30, 2012 were investigated. Preexisting medical conditions were reviewed to determine whether they were contributory to drowning. Results: Of the 506 older people who drowned, 69.0% had a preexisting medical condition. The leading contributory medical condition was cardiovascular disease, followed by dementia, depression, epilepsy, and Parkinson disease. All conditions except cardiovascular disease and depression were overrepresented compared with the proportion of the disease in the population. Falling into water was the most common activity immediately before drowning, especially among those with dementia, whereas those with cardiovascular disease were most likely to drown while swimming. Conclusions: Preexisting medical conditions contribute to drowning in older people but with unequal contributions. With the prevalence of medical conditions expected to increase as the population ages, targeted education for older people will be important. Risk management will enable older people to safely participate in aquatic activities

Learning to Swim: What Influences Success?

Swimming and water safety skills are important life skills, particularly in Australia, where aquatic activities are regularly enjoyed. Little research has been undertaken exploring children’s swimming and water safety skills, what level they can achieve, and what factors impact their ability to learn these skills. This study explores children aged 5-12 years who participated in the Australian Capital Territory Primary Schools Swim and Survive Program, 2009-2011. Children who were more likely to achieve higher levels were older, were female, attended private school, swam at least once a fortnight, had a swimming pool at home, or visited a public swimming pool. Those who were less likely were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, had a negative experience, and swam less than once a fortnight

Covariant Uniform Acceleration

We show that standard Relativistic Dynamics Equation F=dp/d\tau is only partially covariant. To achieve full Lorentz covariance, we replace the four-force F by a rank 2 antisymmetric tensor acting on the four-velocity. By taking this tensor to be constant, we obtain a covariant definition of uniformly accelerated motion. We compute explicit solutions for uniformly accelerated motion which are divided into four types: null, linear, rotational, and general. For null acceleration, the worldline is cubic in the time. Linear acceleration covariantly extends 1D hyperbolic motion, while rotational acceleration covariantly extends pure rotational motion. We use Generalized Fermi-Walker transport to construct a uniformly accelerated family of inertial frames which are instantaneously comoving to a uniformly accelerated observer. We explain the connection between our approach and that of Mashhoon. We show that our solutions of uniformly accelerated motion have constant acceleration in the comoving frame. Assuming the Weak Hypothesis of Locality, we obtain local spacetime transformations from a uniformly accelerated frame K' to an inertial frame K. The spacetime transformations between two uniformly accelerated frames with the same acceleration are Lorentz. We compute the metric at an arbitrary point of a uniformly accelerated frame. We obtain velocity and acceleration transformations from a uniformly accelerated system K' to an inertial frame K. We derive the general formula for the time dilation between accelerated clocks. We obtain a formula for the angular velocity of a uniformly accelerated object. Every rest point of K' is uniformly accelerated, and its acceleration is a function of the observer's acceleration and its position. We obtain an interpretation of the Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac equation as an acceleration transformation from K' to K.Comment: 36 page

Internalising symptoms and working memory as predictors of mathematical attainment trajectories across the primary-secondary education transition

The transition from primary to secondary education is a critical period in early adolescence which is related to increased anxiety and stress, increased prevalence of mental health issues, and decreased maths performance, suggesting it is an important period to investigate maths attainment. Previous research has focused on anxiety and working memory as predictors of maths, without investigating any long-term effects around the education transition. This study examined working memory and internalizing symptoms as predictors of children's maths attainment trajectories (age 7–16) across the transition to secondary education using secondary longitudinal analysis of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). This study found statistically significant, but very weak evidence for the effect of internalizing symptoms and working memory on maths attainment. Greater parental education was the strongest predictor, suggesting that children of parents with a degree (compared with those with a CSE) gain the equivalent of almost a year's schooling in maths. However, due to methodological limitations, the effects of working memory and internalizing symptoms on attainment cannot be fully understood with the current study. Additional research is needed to further uncover this relationship, using more time-appropriate measures