AUTHOR=Santibañez-Gutierrez Asier , Fernández-Landa Julen , Calleja-González Julio , Todorović Nikola , Ranisavljev Marijana , Štajer Valdemar , Anđelić Bogdan , Zenić Nataša , Bianco Antonino , Drid Patrik 

TITLE=Epidemiology of children's swimming competence and water safety

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.961342

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.961342

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Introduction: We investigated children’s swimming competence in primary schools of districts in Vojvodina, Serbia. 
Methods: Included subjects were primary school students from first to eighth grade (N = 2778; male =1454, female =1324; age = 10.73 ± 2.1 years) at district of Vojvodina, Serbia. We used Swimming Competence Questionnaire to acquire and analyze their swimming experience, non-fatal aquatic events, and demographics. 
Results: Families with more income and education generally have children with more swimming competence, experience, knowledge, and skills related to water safety. First step in analysis revelaed that gender (β = .05, p < .01), education level (β = .06, p < .01) age (β =.171, p < .01), and family income (β = .04, p < .01) were significant swimming competence (SC) predictors (R2 = .04). Age (OR = 1.15, p < .01) was the only significant predictor in Step 1 predicting non-fatal aquatic events (NFAE). In Step 2, variables associated with SC were swimming location (ΔR2 = .06, p < .01), swimming experience (ΔR2 = .16, p < .01), swimming accessibility (ΔR2 = .05, p < .01), and learning experience (ΔR2 = .03, p < .01) (total R2 = .26 to.47, p < .01). Only a minority of participants reported that they could not swim further than 5 meters using general stroke (37.15%). 
Conclusion: National education trainers programs must be prioritized with the primary strategy of transferring knowledge to swimming and water safety. Families with lower income must be included without exceptions. This is perhaps a key factor in preventing NFAE, increasing SC, and increasing water safety.