Surf bather drowning risk analysis

Full description

Eighteen lifeguards or surfers judged surf bather drowning putative risk factors based on their experience in surf activities. Each judge rated the likelihood of a person requiring rescue in 27 scenarios in a Latin square arrangement for unique combinations of three levels for swimming ability, surf bathing experience and wave height, with replication.
All factors provided unique contributions to drowning risk (p<.001). An interaction (p=.02) indicated that occasional surf bathers face a proportionally increased risk of drowning at increased wave heights relative to experienced surf bathers.
Ethical approval was granted by the Monash University Standing Committee on Ethics in Research Involving Humans.