Exploring the Swimming and Water Safety Behaviour Among Indian and Vietnamese Adults in Australia.

India and Vietnam are among the top 10 birth countries of people who drown in Australia.

• From 2011 to 2021, drowning caused over 2.5 million preventable deaths globally.
• Asia carries the highest burden of drowning deaths worldwide.
• This statistic provided the rationale for focusing the study on Indian and Vietnamese adults specifically.

A small qualitative sample of Indian and Vietnamese adults living in Victoria, Australia was recruited for semi-structured online interviews.

• Three men and nine women participated, totalling 12 participants.
• Participants were between 20 and 79 years old.
• Participants were born in India and Vietnam and were living in Victoria, Australia.
• Recruitment used convenience and snowball sampling methods.
• Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and thematically analysed using a deductive approach.

Cultural differences in how participants related to aquatic environments in their birth countries compared to Australia impacted their health literacy around water safety.

• This was identified as the first of three interrelated themes from thematic analysis.
• Participants' prior experiences with aquatic environments in India and Vietnam shaped their understanding and behaviour around water safety in Australia.
• Cultural background influenced participants' health literacy specifically in relation to swimming ability and water safety.

Family influence on perceptions of aquatic environments determined participants' perception of risk and safety in aquatic settings.

• This was identified as the second major theme emerging from the interviews.
• Family attitudes and messaging shaped whether participants perceived aquatic environments as safe or dangerous.
• This theme was described as interrelated with the other two themes identified in the analysis.

Differences in access, affordability, and availability of swimming and water safety education impacted participants' swimming ability.

• This was the third theme identified through thematic analysis.
• Barriers to swimming education were framed in terms of access, affordability, and availability.
• These structural factors were identified as affecting the development of swimming skills among Indian and Vietnamese adults in Australia.

A multisectoral approach involving councils, multicultural organisations, and community leaders is recommended to increase drowning prevention health literacy within Asian communities in Australia.

• Recommendations include targeted water safety education and swimming programmes for Asian communities.
• The authors call for co-designing programmes with community leaders.
• The recommendations respond to what the authors describe as 'the emerging trend of fatal drowning in Asian communities in Australia.'
• Targeted education and engagement with community leaders were identified as necessary components of any intervention.