Sustaining youth engagement in water safety beyond early swimming lessons remains a critical challenge. While foundational learn-to-swim programs introduce essential skills, 48% of young people disengage before developing the practical knowledge and confidence required to stay safe in real-world aquatic environments. Royal Life Saving data indicates that the drowning risk of young people (10-20years) increases by 13%.

There is a clear opportunity for programs to go beyond stroke development and keep young people engaged. Royal Life Saving Queensland has designed and delivers two community-based initiatives aimed at addressing the decline in water safety and swimming skills among youth. NextGEN Lifesavers and the Airlie Beach Junior Lifeguard program focus on building practical lifesaving skills, confidence, teamwork, leadership, and real-world experience.

By focusing on ongoing engagement and real-world capability, these programs offer a practical and scalable model for strengthening youth water safety outcomes and supporting long-term participation in lifesaving pathways.

Youth participants demonstrate stronger engagement and responsiveness when programs are delivered or led by their peers. Peer-led models also enhance the perceived realism and aspirational value of program content. Feedback from participants indicated that when they are provided with meaningful opportunities to lead, mentor, and be appropriately challenged and programs move beyond repetitive, drill-based delivery they feel more immersed in the program through their contributions through the emphasis of practical life skills, personal development, and clear progression pathways.

The success of youth-led programs such as NextGEN Lifesavers and the Airlie Beach Junior Lifeguard program highlights the need to rethink how water safety is delivered beyond early childhood. Programs that incorporate peer leadership, practical experience, and clear progression pathways are more effective in maintaining engagement during key dropout years. They also strengthen individual capability and create sustained pathways into future lifesaving, leadership roles, and ongoing involvement in water safety within regional communities.

I'm Matilda Thompson, and I'm a proud member of Talent Pool, a youth community engagement association under Royal Life Saving WA. Through Talent Pool, I have obtained my Bronze Medallion, Pool Lifeguard Qualification, Swim Instructor Qualification, Skipper’s Ticket, and First Aid Qualification, making me the swim teacher and water safety advocate I am today, support myself financially, and develop my leadership skills. Talent Pool aims to generate employment, but the program is so much more than that. From my personal experience, I have strengthened my water safety abilities and been a part of facilitating programs like Community Rescue Club to give those qualities back to the community. I have witnessed the movement it has sparked across multiple regional, rural, and remote communities in Western Australia, where young children might not have otherwise had the opportunity to learn to swim or be safe around water. However, I believe one of the most pivotal elements about Talent Pool is its effect on youth. 15-24 year-olds are a target group for Royal Life Saving WA because that age group makes up about one seventh of the total deaths by drowning in the past year. Talent Pool is not only benefiting young kids, it's benefiting its employees, who learn the water safety skills they need to teach, and obtain life-changing qualifications. As part of the education department, primary school aged children have access to free swimming lessons once a year in their school, that is not enough. Every young person should have the opportunity to complete their bronze medallion. This would conquer them as a target group for drowning prevention and provide them with pathways into jobs. Majority of populations in Australia live within a short distance of a beach, water hole, or pool; learning to swim and revising that knowledge frequently is important.

Background
During the 2024–2025 summer period, 50 coastal drowning deaths were recorded in Australia, with males accounting for 92% of fatalities (Surf Life Saving Australia, 2025). This reflects a consistent pattern of male over-representation in coastal drowning statistics. Early engagement during adolescence provides an opportunity to influence how young males perceive and manage risk around water, supporting the development of safer decision-making behaviours and longer-term behavioural patterns.

Program Description
Know Your Limits is an evidence-based secondary school program developed in response to the Australian Water Safety Strategy 2030 focus on high-risk young males. Delivered via Articulate Rise 360, the program uses narrative-based pedagogy to reposition water safety from restriction to control and leadership.
Key elements include:
- Physical Paradox activities that demonstrate the futility of physical strength against uncontrollable environmental forces.
- The Leadership Profile, a behavioural quiz categorising students as Anchors, Surges, or Whitewater to explore peer influence and decision-making.
- Drone analytics, using SLSNSW footage to identify rip currents and develop scripted response plans.
- Near-peer voices, with 15–18-year-old lifesavers presenting narrative hooks via vlogs to build trust and reduce authority bias.

Lessons learned
Pilot development identifies four engagement pillars: redefining strength as the ability to redirect group behaviour without loss of status; shifting confidence from physical to intellectual power through hazard recognition; framing safety as autonomy by highlighting social and financial consequences of drowning; and positioning safety as a professional asset through resume-ready certification. Early pilots indicate increased hazard awareness and reduced overconfidence in self-reported decision-making.

Conclusions
By addressing masculine norms and peer dynamics that underpin adolescent risk-taking, Know Your Limits moves beyond ineffective “don’t do X” messaging. The program offers a scalable model for embedding intellectual power and self-awareness into national drowning prevention strategies.

Background Drowning is a serious and preventable public health issue in Australia. Adults aged 65 and older are often overrepresented in fatality statistics. A lack of confidence or skills in the water is a major barrier older adults. This can result from a decline in skills, limited prior learning, negative experiences, or a fear of water. Masters Swimming Australia created the Transition to Masters (T2M) program. This free initiative targeted adults who cannot swim more than 15 metres. This study highlights the experiences of participants to understand the barriers, motivations, and learning processes involved in developing swimming skills as adults.

Methods A qualitative design was used, involving semi-structured interviews with nine selected T2M participants from different ages, genders, and locations. The interviews examined prior swimming experiences, reasons for enrolling, involvement in the program, and perceived outcomes. Data were analysed using a five-phase thematic approach based on Braun and Clarke’s methodology.

Results Five key themes emerged: (1) long-term disengagement from swimming, along with fear and embarrassment, acted as barriers; (2) self-limiting beliefs reduced confidence and delayed seeking help; (3) teachers played a critical role in fostering supportive and age-appropriate learning environments; (4) participants realised improvements in skill, confidence, and self-efficacy; and (5) broader benefits beyond swimming. Including better physical health, mental wellbeing, social connections, and gaining water safety knowledge. Participants reported enhanced stamina, confidence, and a greater willingness to return to aquatic settings.

Conclusion The T2M program shows the benefits of applying adult learning principles to improve swimming skills. Personalised teaching, psychological safety, and social support were vital factors to success. The program not only helped with skill acquisition but also led to better health, wellbeing, and awareness of water safety. These findings underscore the potential of programs focused on adults to improve water skills, support healthy aging, and drowning prevention.

Background
Older Australians are at the highest risk of drowning on record, accounting for approximately 26% of all drowning deaths. In response, Royal Life Saving NSW (RLSNSW) has expanded targeted programs and behaviour-change campaigns aligned to the Australian Water Safety Strategy 2030, focusing on high-risk populations and lifelong participation in aquatic activity.

Description
Between 2023–2026, RLSNSW delivered 29 seniors-focused programs reaching 3,690 participants across metropolitan and regional NSW. Programs targeted adults aged 60+, including culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and those at risk of social isolation.
Key initiatives included Community Pulse (CPR and AED awareness), Seniors Water Wellness (aquatic activity, emergency response and survival skills), and Seniors Splash (10-week learn-to-swim programs with social connection and CPR education). Programs were designed to remove barriers through accessible, non-accredited delivery, cultural adaptation, and flexible participation.
These initiatives were complemented by the Active Adults campaign, delivered annually over three years, promoting key safety behaviours and encouraging a lifelong “waterway of life.”

Lessons Learned
Evaluation demonstrated strong outcomes: over 95% participant satisfaction, 98% reporting programs as accessible, and 84% feeling empowered to act in an emergency.
Key learnings include:
• Removing accreditation and adapting delivery increases participation
• Social connection improves engagement and retention
• CALD-specific approaches are essential
• Confidence-building is a critical first step toward behaviour change
• Combining aquatic and emergency response education strengthens outcomes

These findings demonstrate that older adults are both willing and able to engage in water safety when programs are accessible and socially driven.

Conclusions
An integrated model combining inclusive programs and sustained campaigns is effective in engaging older adults in drowning prevention. Addressing social, cultural, and physical barriers supports increased participation, confidence, and safety.
As Australia’s population ages, scalable, community-based approaches that promote lifelong aquatic participation will be critical to reducing drowning risk among older Australians.

Background:
Older adults experience high fatal drowning rates, with incidents commonly occurring at home and open waterways. Risk factors include medical conditions, medication side effects, and extreme heat, which is becoming a more frequent and severe contributor to drowning. Older adults from multicultural backgrounds may also face barriers to drowning prevention, including limited access to tailored safety information. This project aimed to co-design, implement, and evaluate a culturally- and age-appropriate campaign, to improve extreme heat and water safety behaviours among people aged 65+ years, including multicultural communities.

Methods:
A culturally diverse community focus group was recruited, and informed campaign development, including content, messaging, visuals, and communication channels. Campaign materials were translated into priority languages identified through drowning and population data (English, Greek, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese) and distributed across print, digital, social media, and multicultural media channels. The campaign was delivered across summer and autumn 2025–26. Cross-sectional pre- and post-campaign online surveys of older Victorians (n=200 each) assessed knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, recall, and design preferences.

Results:
Focus group participants called for simple messaging, clear design, vivid visuals, and representation of home and open water environments to reflect their lived experience. Insights informed campaign assets and multilingual dissemination strategies. Participants strongly supported the campaign, emphasising the importance of supportive reminders, culturally relevant examples, and practical heat and water safety strategies, rather than directive messaging. Overall awareness did not change significantly between pre-post waves. However, most participants found the resources relevant and inclusive to how they engage with water (84.5%) and felt more confident and informed about heat and water safety (76.5%).

Conclusions:
Co-designing a tailored safety campaign for older adults, particularly multicultural populations, supports enhanced message relevance and delivery. Longer duration of campaign delivery may be required to influence awareness and behaviours to strengthen community resilience to worsening extreme heat conditions.