Swimming and water safety delivery for newly arrived Australians

In Victoria, Australia, culturally and linguistically diverse communities are more than twice as likely to drown than their Australian-born counterparts. One explanation is the lack of feasible, community-led approaches to water safety and swimming education. A community engagement framework was used to develop and implement a 5-day pool program to teach swimming and water safety to newly arrived migrant children attending an English language school in Victoria. Socio-cultural needs of the predominantly Afghan cohort were incorporated through in-language consultation with parents who requested males and females be educated separately. Participants were assessed against Victorian aquatic competency benchmark standards at pre- and post-program, however, there was no expectation to achieve these competencies within the 5 days due to a lack of prior aquatic exposure. Independent and paired samples t-tests determined changes in skills, including by sex and number of lessons attended. Forty-one participants completed all assessments. Excluding lifesaving skills, there was a significant increase in total competency attainment overall from pre- to post-program (p < 0.001), and for each competency (p's ≤ 0.002)-predominantly knowledge and rescue skills. Improvements were mostly recorded among males, demonstrating that females may require more specialized support to achieve similar outcomes. Improvements in rescue skills and knowledge indicate the program's effectiveness in increasing newly arrived migrant children's awareness of, and exposure to, foundations of safe aquatic behaviours. Future programs tailored to newly arrived migrant communities should consider implementing water familiarization activities as a stepping stone to engagement with structured swimming and water safety education.