WS WC 16 Develop an Annual National Water Safety Awareness Campaign
Develop and implement an annual comprehensive coordinated national water safety awareness campaign.
Spectrum level: Promoting Community Education
Evidence level: Medium
Rationale:
The creation of a public health campaign that educates people on the risks of drowning and drowning prevention will help increase education, awareness, and change behavior in and around water.
Anticipated Impact:
After implementing this recommendation, you can expect to experience the following outcomes.
- Developing and implementing an annual comprehensive coordinated national water safety awareness campaign leads to increased education, awareness and behavior change in and around the water.
Evidence:
There is strong evidence that supports:
Our team looked at multiple sources to find examples of effective public health campaigns across the last few decades and around the world to learn the key elements of a successful campaign as well as the best practices for launching a campaign and reaching the target audience. These campaigns are most effective when funded and when complimented by other community interventions and public policies that support the recommended action or behavior change.
Evidence Sources:
National Institutes of Health - Examples of Public Health Campaigns https://prevention.nih.gov/research-priorities/dissemination-implementation/nih-public-health-campaigns
Wakefield, M. A., Loken, B., & Hornik, R. C. (2010). Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour. The lancet, 376(9748), 1261-1271. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4248563/
Zeinner, E. How public health communication campaigns can influence communities. https://www.writergirl.com/3-examples-of-great-public-health-communication-campaigns/ accessed 11/2023
Frieden, T. R. (2014). Six components necessary for effective public health program implementation. American journal of public health, 104(1), 17-22. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3910052/
Leavy JE, Gray C, Della Bona M, D'Orazio N, Crawford G. A Review of Interventions for Drowning Prevention Among Adults. J Community Health. 2023 Jun;48(3):539-556. doi: 10.1007/s10900-023-01189-6. Epub 2023 Jan 19. PMID: 36653593; PMCID: PMC10198900.
High Risk Populations Addressed:
All populations can benefit from implementation of this recommendation.
This recommendation can reach all demographics if the campaign is diverse and delivered via multiple channels and across all demographics and be delivered alongside other effective community based water safety programs.
Evaluation Metrics:
Numbers of campaigns conducted Number of organizations involved with the campaign Number of regions where campaigns were conducted Numbers and percent of persons who heard and remembered the campaign messages Numbers and percent of persons who reported skill acquisition, an attitude or a behavior change promoted by the campaign following the campaign. Decrease in fatal and/or non-fatal drowning rates
Implementation:
Consider the following to ensure successful implementation:
- Ensure that the public health campaign is designed in accordance with the evidence in drowning prevention data and research.
- Ensure that the elements of the campaign are designed specifically to reach the targeted audiences (age, race, gender, socioeconomic level and specific aquatic environments) -Align the campaign with evidence informed, data driven, water safety policies and programs.
Challenges to Implementation:
When implementing this recommendation, you might encounter challenges related to the following factors.
- The number and variety of target audiences may be a challenge.
- Lack of funding, apathy, and competition from other public health issues may be barriers to success of the campaign.
Potential Facilitators:
The following factors might facilitate the implementation of this recommendation. Guidance on How to conduct public health campaigns: https://prevention.nih.gov/research- priorities/dissemination-implementation/nih-public-health-campaigns
Evidence shows that Campaigns are most effective when funded and when complemented by other community interventions and public policies that support the recommended action or behavior change. - A National Campaign that also has state and local applications. - Adequate funding to support the campaign - Adequate number of programs and organizations to help support the actions suggested by the campaign.
GAP Recommendation:
There is currently no universal campaign for water safety and drowning prevention that is widely accepted and includes universal and widely supported language and messaging. The closest we could find in water safety is the WEAR IT Campaign from the National Safe Boating Council.
Examples of successful drowning prevention campaigns: Bennett, E., Cummings, P., Quan, L., & Lewis, F. M. (1999). Evaluation of a drowning prevention campaign in King County, Washington. Injury Prevention, 5(2), 109-113.
Leavy, J. E., Crawford, G., Leaversuch, F., Nimmo, L., McCausland, K., & Jancey, J. (2016). A review of drowning prevention interventions for children and young people in high, low and middle income countries. Journal of community health, 41, 424-441.
Quan MD, L., &; Shephard MD, E. (2020). Evaluation of a drowning prevention campaign in a Vietnamese American community. International journal of aquatic research and education, 12(3), 4.
Domínguez, A. M., Pino, J., García, A., García, I., & González, I. (2018). PW 1649 Drowning prevention campaigns, do they really work?.
Pino, J., Domínguez, A. M., García, A., García, I., & González, I. (2018). PW 1697 Impact of drowning prevention campaign #stopahogados.
Denehy, M., Crawford, G., Leavy, J., Nimmo, L., & Jancey, J. (2016). Formative research to develop theory-based messages for a Western Australian child drowning prevention television campaign: study protocol. BMJ open, 6(5), e010033.
Wallis, B. A., Watt, K., Franklin, R. C., Taylor, M., Nixon, J. W., & Kimble, R. M. (2015). Interventions associated with drowning prevention in children and adolescents: systematic literature review. Injury prevention, 21(3), 195-204.