YouTube Videos and the Rip Current Hazard: Swimming in a Sea of (Mis)information

Mackellar, Katherine M.; Brander, Robert W.; Shaw, Wendy S.

doi:10.25035/ijare.09.03.10

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Beach safety signage is also used to make beachgoers aware of potential beach hazards, but several studies have shown the overall effectiveness of signage is poor [ 15 , 16 ]. Beach safety is also promoted with brochures, online videos, social media, public service announcements and national campaigns [ 17 , 18 ] as well as community and school-based education [ 19 ], but evaluation of these approaches is lacking [ 20 – 22 ]. Furthermore, a key action from the Australian Addressing Drowning in Multicultural Communities Symposium in 2018 was to simplify language to improve understanding of key water safety messages, avoid confusion, and encourage community consultation [ 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying risk factors and implications for beach drowning prevention amongst an Australian multicultural community

2022

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Multicultural communities in Australia are recognised as a priority area for drowning prevention, but no evidence-based study has addressed their knowledge of beach safety. This study used an online survey tool to identify and examine risk factors relating to swimming ability, beach visitation characteristics and behaviour, and beach safety knowledge of the Australian Southern Asian community to assist in the development of future beach safety interventions. Data was obtained through 249 online and in-person surveys of people aged > 18 years. Most respondents reported poor swimming ability (80%), often swam in in the absence of lifeguards (77%), did not understand the rip current hazard (58%), but reported that they entered the water (76%) when visiting beaches. Close to one-quarter (28%) had not heard, or didn’t know the purpose, of the red and yellow beach flags, which identify lifeguard supervised areas on Australian beaches. Length of time living in Australia is an important beach safety consideration for this community, with minimal differences in terms of gender and age. Those who have lived < 10 years in Australia visit beaches more frequently and are less likely to have participated in swimming lessons, be able to swim, heard of the flags or swim between them, understand rip currents, or have participated in a beach safety program. Very few (3%) respondents received beach safety information from within their own community. The importance of beach safety education and swimming lessons within the Southern Asian community should be prioritised for new and recent migrants to Australia.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying risk factors and implications for beach drowning prevention amongst an Australian multicultural community

2022

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“…1). Rips originate near the shoreline and generally flow offshore, with typical mean flow velocities of 0.5-0.8 m s −1 and instantaneous velocities occasionally reaching 2 m s −1 (MacMahan et al, 2006). It is therefore not surprising that rip currents are regarded as the primary surf zone hazard for bathers and swimmers on beaches where they exist (Brander and Scott, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beachgoers' ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Pitman

Thompson

Hart

et al. 2021

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Rip currents (“rips”) are the leading cause of drowning on surf beaches worldwide. A major contributing factor is that many beachgoers are unable to identify rip currents. Previous research has attempted to quantify beachgoers' rip identification ability using photographs of rip currents without identifying whether this usefully translates into an ability to identify a rip current in situ at the beach. This study is the first to compare beachgoers ability to identify rip currents in photographs and in situ at a beach in New Zealand (Muriwai Beach) where a channel rip current was present. Only 22 % of respondents were able to identify the in situ rip current. The highest rates of success were for males (33 %), New Zealand residents (25 %), and local beach users (29 %). Of all respondents who were successful at identifying the rip current in situ, 62 % were active surfers/bodyboarders, and 28 % were active beach swimmers. Of the respondents who were able to identify a rip current in two photographs, only 34 % were able to translate this into a successful in situ rip identification, which suggests that the ability to identify rip currents by beachgoers is worse than reported by previous studies involving photographs. This study highlights the difficulty of successfully identifying a rip current in reality and that photographs are not necessarily a useful means of teaching individuals to identify rip currents. It advocates for the use of more immersive and realistic education strategies, such as the use of virtual reality headsets showing moving imagery (videos) of rip currents in order to improve rip identification ability.

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“…Finally, our findings also suggest that the use of still images may not be an effective method to use in public rip current education campaigns. One potential solution to this problem is to make use of the increasing availability of video footage of rip currents on social media, such as YouTube (Mackellar et al, 2015) and the rapidly increasing development and availability of 3D headsets and virtual reality, whereby people (e.g. school children) could interact with a 'live' and dynamic surf zone, including rip currents.…”

Section: Implications For Beach Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

Beachgoers’ ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Pitman¹,

Thompson²,

Hart³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Rip currents (rips) are the leading cause of drowning on surf beaches worldwide. A major contributing factor is that many beachgoers are unable to identify rip currents. Previous research has attempted to quantify beachgoers' rip spotting ability using photographs of rip currents, without identifying whether this usefully translates into an ability to spot a rip current in situ at the beach. This study is the first to compare beachgoers ability to spot rip currents in photographs and in situ at a beach in New Zealand (Muriwai Beach) where a channel rip current was present. Only 22 % of respondents were able to identify the in situ rip current. The highest rates of success were for males (33 %), New Zealand residents (25 %), and local beach users (29 %). Of all respondents who were successful at identifying the rip current in situ, 62 % were active surfers/bodyboarders and 28 % were active beach swimmers. Of the respondents who were able to identify a rip current in two photographs, only 34 % were unable to translate this into a successful in situ rip identification, which suggests that the ability to identify rip currents by beachgoers is worse than reported by previous studies involving photographs. This study highlights the difficulty of successfully identifying a rip current in reality and that photographs are not necessarily a useful means of teaching individuals to spot rip currents. It advocates for the use of more immersive and realistic education strategies, such as the use of virtual reality headsets showing moving imagery (videos) of rip currents in order to improve rip spotting ability.

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YouTube Videos and the Rip Current Hazard: Swimming in a Sea of (Mis)information

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

Identifying risk factors and implications for beach drowning prevention amongst an Australian multicultural community

Identifying risk factors and implications for beach drowning prevention amongst an Australian multicultural community

Beachgoers' ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Beachgoers’ ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

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