Infant Drowning Prevention: Insights from a New Ecological Psychology Approach

Abstract

Drowning causes significant mortality and morbidity globally, and infants (0-4 years of age) are disproportionately impacted. In a groundbreaking approach to pediatric drowning prevention, ecological psychology has been used to investigate the relationship between infants' perceptual-motor development and their behavior around bodies of water. In this review, we summarize recent research findings in the field of ecological psychology and apply these to the prevention of infant drowning. Studies have linked infants' avoidance of falls into the water with locomotor experience and type of accessway into bodies of water. Through crawling experience, infants learn to perceive the risk of falling into water and start adapting their behavior to avoid drop-offs leading into water. Infants tend to enter deep water more when the access is via a slope than via a drop-off. We propose that ecological psychology can enhance infant drowning prevention interventions. The aim is to create an additional layer of protection, the perceptual information layer, in addition to existing strategies, such as supervision and barriers. This new protective layer can be a powerful tool to further highlight the risk of entering the water and reduce infant drowning-related mortality and morbidity.

Keywords: affordances; child; development; environment; epidemiology; risk; water cliff; water safety; water slope.

Figure 1

Real Cliff/Water Cliff apparatus synchronized cameras’ view. (a) water cliff camera front view and (b) water cliff camera back view. Photo reproduced with permission of the infant’s mother.

Figure 2

Water slope apparatus synchronized cameras’ view. (a) camera front view and (b) camera back view. Photo reproduced with permission of the infant’s mother.