Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Failure to wear a Personal Floatation Device (PFD) while boating, particularly among males over the age 15, is a significant risk factor for drowning in Canada. Annually, there are approximately 450 reported fatal drownings across the country, with 78% of victims being male, and 23% of these incidents occurring during boating-related activity. Alarmingly, between 2008-2017, in 87% of boating-related fatalities in Canada, a PFD was absent, or not worn properly. Overall, males account for 91% of recreational boating-related drowning deaths among all age groups. This situation presents a critical public health concern in Canada, and imposes a substantial financial burden, with an estimated annual cost of drowning of $191 million dollars, in addition to the significant emotional burden that drowning inflicts on families and communities. Social marketing campaigns are an effective prevention strategy in public health, yet there is currently no national drowning prevention campaign aimed at increasing lifejacket and PFD wear rates among boaters. National public education efforts to date (e.g., social media campaigns, lifejacket loaner stations, signage) have had limited effect, and more work is needed. Although there was a 21% decrease in recreational boating-related incidents across Canada between 2008-2017, PFD wear rates did not increase during that period. This discrepancy highlights an existing knowledge-to-action gap with lifejacket and PFD wear rates, particularly among men. Identifying this knowledge gap, and addressing how wear rates can be increased among men, is essential to creating an effective drowning prevention campaign. The primary aim of our planning activities is to actively engage members of our target population (males 15+ who boat) in a series of meetings across Canada to better understand low wear rates, and subsequently generate ideas based on that understanding to inform an effective lifejacket/PFD national social marketing campaign.