Citation

White KM, Hyde MK. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2010; 42(6): 1831-1838.

Affiliation

School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2010.05.004

PMID

20728634

Abstract

Swimming at patrolled beaches reduces the likelihood of drownings and near-drownings. The present study tested the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), with the addition of risk perceptions, in predicting people's intentions to swim between the flags at patrolled beaches. We examined also the predictors of people's willingness to swim [1] up to 10m and [2] more than 10m outside of the patrol flags. Participants (N=526) completed measures of attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC), intentions/willingness, and both objective and subjective risk perceptions. Two weeks later, a sub-sample of participants reported on their beach swimming behaviour for the previous fortnight. Attitude and subjective norm predicted intentions to swim between and willingness to swim outside of the flags. Age and PBC influenced willingness to swim beyond the flags. Objective risk predicted willingness to swim beyond the flags (both distances) while subjective risk predicted willingness to swim up to 10m outside the flags. People's intentions to swim between the flags were correlated with their behaviour at follow-up. This study provides a preliminary investigation into an important safety behaviour and identifies factors to target when promoting safe swimming behaviours to prevent drowning deaths on Australian beaches.

Language: en