Teaching Young Children Swim Survival Skills

This study is designed to evaluate whether commercially-available swim self-rescue schools are effective to teach children ages 12-23 months to stay safely alive floating in the water (or grasping the pool's edge) without adult intervention. The investigators will measure children's water self-rescue skills at baseline and then they will engage in commercially-available training over the course of several weeks. The investigators will then measure their skills again. Assessments will be conducted using a standardized protocol with a certified lifeguard present. Parents will also complete a short survey concerning child and family demographics and child and family swim and lifeguard training experience.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Drowning
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: self-rescue training

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 50
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Alabama
    • Birmingham, Alabama, United States, 35294
      • UAB Youth Safety Lab, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• child ages 12-23 months
• enrolled in self-rescue course at participating swim facility

Exclusion Criteria:

• medical conditions counter-indicating training in water
• previous experience in self-rescue swim courses

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: self-rescue training; children will receive self-rescue training from a certified instructor	Behavioral: self-rescue training; children will receive training for self-rescue if they are alone in water

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Children's Self-rescue Ability	Assessment of whether children demonstrates ability to engage independently and safely in water, without adult assistance. This was measured through a standardized behavioral observation of children's behavior in a swimming pool. It was scored in a binary fashion as "yes" or "no", with each child in the study scored either "yes" or "no".	at completion of training intervention program, an anticipated average of 4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 16, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): November 23, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 18, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 26, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): August 4, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 7, 2025
• Last Verified: February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Wounds and Injuries; Pathologic Processes; Death; Drowning
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB-300011508

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: We will share de-identified data with qualified researchers upon request.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will become available after all primary results are published. They will remain available for at least 3 years.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Contact Study PI David Schwebel.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No