Abstract
BackgroundDrowning among children of migrant workers is a major, though neglected public health issue in China.MethodsA randomised controlled trial was used to examine the potential impact of viewing a preventive health poster with/without geo-located drowning events on perceptions of drowning risk among Chinese migrant children. A total of 752 children from three schools in Jiangbei district were selected by multi-stage sampling and randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 380) or control (n = 372). Multilevel models were used to analyse changes in responses to the following questions after viewing the assigned poster for 10 min: (1) “Do you believe that drowning is a serious health problem in Ningbo city?”; (2) “Do you believe that there are lots of drowning-risk waters around you?”; (3) “Do you believe that the likelihood of your accessing a drowning-risk water is great?”; and (4) “Would you intend to avoid accessing to those drowning-risk waters when being exposed?”ResultsAt baseline there were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups in perceptions of drowning risk or covariates. Following the intervention, participants that viewed the geo-specific poster were more likely to respond more favourably to the first three questions (p < 0.001) than those who viewed the standard poster. However, there was no substantive difference between the geo-specific or standard poster in terms of changing intentions to avoid drowning hotspots (p = 0.214).ConclusionsUse of ‘geo-located’ information added value to the effectiveness of a drowning prevention poster for enhancing awareness of drowning hotspots among children of migrant workers.Trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR-IOR-16008979 (Retrospectively registered) (The date of trial registration: Aug 5, 2016, the date of enrolment of the first participant: Nov 10, 2015).
Highlights
Drowning among children of migrant workers is a major, though neglected public health issue in China
Attitude towards visiting drowning ‘hotspots’ was assessed using the questions: (3) “Do you believe that the likelihood of your accessing a drowning-risk water is great?”; and (4) “Would you intend to avoid accessing to those drowning-risk waters when being exposed?” For each question, responses were recoded dichotomously with “definitely /probably not” = “no” and “definitely /probably yes” = “yes”
There was good comparability in demographic characteristics between each group and no significant difference in beliefs relating to drowning prevention at baseline (Table 1)
Summary
Drowning among children of migrant workers is a major, though neglected public health issue in China. Evidence from the Global Burden of Disease study of 2013 shows that drowning, a preventable cause of death, remains common despite a notable decline since 1990 [1]. It has been highlighted by the World Health Organization as a neglected public health concern [2, 3].Part of the problem may stem from differential risk, with the majority of deaths occurring among children [3, 4]. Must contend with an unfamiliar context often without the constant support of their parents, who are often blamed for children’s injuries [10], but they must negotiate a rapidly changing built environment that brings new risks that migrant parents are perhaps not always equipped to manage on their own
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