Surviving the swim: Psychosocial influences on pool owners' safety compliance and child supervision behaviours

Abstract

In Queensland, Australia drowning deaths of children under the age of 5 have increased over the last 3 years, with home swimming pools being the most common site of this tragedy. Restriction of access to pools and supervision of children using the pool are two behaviours that can prevent drowning. Pool owners who were parents or guardians of children aged under 5 years (N = 242) completed a survey regarding these behaviours. We examined the impact of owners’ risk perceptions and feelings of anticipated regret on the pool safety intention and behaviours of (1) restriction of child access and (2) supervision of children, after taking into account established psychosocial determinants of decision making conceptualised by the theory of planned behaviour (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control). In addition, underlying beliefs (attitudinal, normative, control) were examined. While anticipated regret significantly predicted intentions for both behaviours, risk perception was not a significant predictor of intention to perform either behaviour. The established decision-making constructs of attitudes, norms, and control factors influenced intention, with intention and control factors predicting behaviour. Furthermore, the critical beliefs identified in this study, in particular the approval from close others and experts in the swimming domain, provides for a better understanding of pool safety behaviour. The findings based on psychological variables and critical beliefs can be applied to future intervention strategies aimed at decreasing the incidence of childhood drowning.