Water safety education among primary school children in Grenada

Abstract

Drowning is a common cause of death among children. Successful prevention interventions currently used in developed countries are often not transferable into developing countries due to differences in both environment and resources. In this study, we adapted a water safety education programme developed by the American Red Cross for primary school students in Grenada. Water safety knowledge before and after the training session was assessed using a nine-question evaluation tool. Following the training, a survey was administered to all teachers to assess the adaptability and effectiveness of the WHALE Tales training. Fifty-six students (30% males) completed the training. The age range was between 5 and 12 years old. Participants’ water safety knowledge increased 15% (p < 0.01). Mean scores of correct answers increased for every grade level, ranging from a 5% increase for first graders to 33% increase for second graders. The findings from this study suggested that implementation of such a programme is effective. With cultural modifications and outsourcing, we believe this adapted programme would be successful in Grenada and other similar settings.

Keywords:

• water safety
• primary prevention
• education
• drowning

Acknowledgements

We thank the American Red Cross for providing the WHALE Tales material in order to complete this study and all participants for participating this study. Additionally, we thank Dr. S. Bidaisee, Dr. O.C. Elci, Mr. B. Neff, Mrs. M. Joseph and Mrs. A. Bartholomew for assistance and support in this project.