Reviewing Coastal Drowning Science
The latest output from the UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, published in February 2021 in PLOS ONE, is a scoping literature review led by UNSW BEES PhD student Will Koon and fellow BSRG researchers Amy Peden, Jaz Lawes and Rob Brander. This study consisted of the review of 146 coastal drowning studies from around the world in an attempt to characterise the peer-reviewed scientific literature in the field. This study aimed to identify the key concepts, findings, evidence and gaps in the science in order to help guide future research and inform prevention activities.
This study is the most in-depth critical review of published coastal drowning scientific literature to date and represents an important step in understanding where the field has focused, and where new attention is needed.
You can access and read the open-source paper for free here.
A few quick highlights from the review:
The earliest published study in the review was from the UK in 1963.
Coastal drowning research has, thus far, primally come from Australia (49 out of 146 studies) and the United States (28 out of 146 studies)
Most studies in the review were from High Income Countries (76.7%), and none were from low-income countries.
Although we tried to include studies published in Spanish, none passed the screening phase and were included in the final review.
Studies were published in a variety of journals representing different disciplines, most frequently in the health/medical sciences and the physical sciences.
The terminology used to describe coastal waters (ocean, sea, beach, etc.) was diverse and variable.
Studies report intentional, occupational and boating coastal drowning deaths in an inconsistent fashion, which made it difficult to synthesize results across many different studies.
Over one hundred different risk factors related to coastal drowning were identified in these papers, but the data sources, outcomes used, and analysis employed were variable.
Many studies recommend prevention measures, most frequently related to education, lifeguards and signage.
Evaluation of coastal drowning prevention strategies is rare.
Coastal drowning is a broad, multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral subject of research with wide ranging focus areas. Advances in science will drive more effective prevention measures that will ultimately save lives. A critical look at the existing published literature helps frame where future science in this space is needed most. In this case, coastal drowning prevention strategy evaluation and data from lower resourced settings should be prioritised.