Development and validation of a survey instrument on drowning prevention and water safety among parents of primary school children

Introduction: Malaysia has limited educational material on drowning prevention and water safety. Currently, no formal regulations or acts applicable to drowning prevention were identified such as requiring lifeguards to be present in all public pools, pool fencing and wearing floatation devices for children when engaging in water activities. Limited awareness messages are available on drowning prevention, especially for parents. Assessment of parental knowledge, attitude and practice on childhood drowning and its preventive measures will assist in designing essential educational package for childhood drowning prevention and water safety. Aim: To design and evaluate the survey instrument examining knowledge, attitude and practice on drowning prevention and water safety among parents and guardians of primary school children. Materials and Methods: Prior to designing the questionnaire, documents analysis and literature reviewed were employed to provide an insight into the research topic. Six experts evaluated content validity with the score of Content Validity Index (CVI). The questionnaire was designed and cross-sectional study was conducted among 130 parents/guardians of primary school children in Selangor, Malaysia. Construct validity was estimated using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA); utilising principal components method and varimax rotation. The reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated by face validity and Cronbach’s alpha respectively. Results: An agreement obtained from the panel experts on the adequacy of the instrument; based on the I-CVI score ≥0.83 and scale-level content validity (S-CVI/Ave) characteristics of relevancy, clarity, simplicity and unambiguity of each item in the questionnaire ≥90%. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in 10 factor-solutions (69.4% total variance) constructed for attitude domain whereas nine factor-solutions (65.8% total variance) emerged for practice domain. The reliability for knowledge was KR20=0.58 whereas internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha for attitude and practice was 0.81 and 0.84. Conclusion: The drowning prevention and water safety questionnaire developed is useful and reliable for quantifying parental knowledge, attitude and practice characteristic related to water safety and drowning prevention for their children

Will they swim or sink? parental perception of water safety among their children

Introduction: The magnitude of drowning as one of the leading causes of death among children in Malaysia may have been underestimated. Little is known on the level of awareness on water safety among parents as it might be associated with appropriateness and adequacy of the supervision. This study aims to describe perceptions of water safety among parents of primary school children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with 719 respondent conducted to obtain information on parents self-reported on their children’s water-involved activity and swimming ability, self-estimated ability to rescue their child and perceptions of the risk of drowning and water safety for their children. Results: The result revealed that about 21.6% of respondents did not perceive drowning as one of the unintentional injury leading causes of death among children. Parents reported that their children had experienced a near- drowning incident (16.1%), and only 12.2% of the child had attended a formal swimming lesson. Majority of the parents did not involve in any water safety program (98.7%), can’t swim (61.6%), not been certified in CPR (87.3%) and not confident (87.3%) to perform resuscitation (CPR). Respondents also perceived their children could swim (42.1%), and they felt confident when their child in the water (45.6%). There were statistical differences between parents who reported their child had a near-drowning experience with their perception of children’s swimming ability. Conclusion: An exploration of parent’s perception of water safety provided an overview of the need for promoting awareness on drowning risk and water safety education in this country

Mountaineering and altitude sickness: a study of AMS prevalence among climbers of Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia

Introduction: Adventure tourism has become one of Malaysia’s most attractive tourism demands, and mountain climbing is rapidly becoming a popular recreational sport. Exploring mountain adventures offers a dynamic experience, preserving this fascinating activity, yet the climbers are exposed to the risk of altitude sickness, such as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of AMS and investigate the effects of high-altitude sickness on the climber profile associated with climbing at Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia. Methods:. The Lake Louise acute mountain sickness LLS score questionnaire collected 95 climber’s data at four different altitudes. SPO2 and Pulse rate was (PR) measured using a finger pulse oximeter. In a cohort study, AMS was measured on day one at 1866m (1st station), 3622m (2nd station), and day two at 3810m (3rd station), and 4095m (4th station). Results: At the altitude of 1866 (Timpohon Gate), the prevalence of AMS was 0%, 30% at 3622m (Laban Rata), 34.7% at 3810m (Sayat-Sayat), and 37.9% at 4095m (Low’s Peak). The overall prevalence of AMS was 37.9% and the majority of AMS cases were moderate in severity and the LLS score is significant with Pulse Rate and peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SPO2). Conclusion: Concisely, this finding has triggered a need for consideration from multi agencies to enhance mountaineering guidance, especially for beginners or inexperienced hikers, for a suitable package for climbing attempts to reduce the incidence of AMS among Mount Kinabalu climbers

The impact of outdoor education camp program in building resilience among university students

Resilience is gained through life experiences that local university students lack from a classroom environment. This study investigated the effect of outdoor education camp programs on the levels of resilience among Physical Education students from two selected universities in Malaysia. A questionnaire was utilized as the primary research tool in this study to assess the participants' perceptions and knowledge acquisition as well as their level of resilience toward the outdoor education camp programs. A total of 162 undergraduate students were studied using a pre-test and post-test approach and a modified version of the Connor-Davidson in a 25 items self-report scale. Analysis of paired t-test showed differences in factors involved in resilience variables, personal competence, instincts and tolerance of negative behavior, positive acceptance of change, control, and spiritual influence. The findings indicated a positive effect towards resilience upon completion of the 14-day outdoor education camp program. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was carried out to evaluate if participation in the outdoor education program influenced participants' perceived level of resilience. Overall, there were statistically significant increases in resilience levels from the pre-test to the post-test stage. These results lead to the need for in-depth research into the assessment of internal factors in an outdoor camp program to provide valuable information on the effect of the intervention and implications towards enhancing resilience of the participants in low to high-risk activities