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Original research
Determinants of lifejacket use among boaters on Lake Albert, Uganda: a qualitative study
  1. Frederick Oporia1,
  2. Simon P S Kibira2,
  3. Jagnoor Jagnoor3,
  4. Fred Nuwaha1,
  5. Fredrick Edward Makumbi4,
  6. Tonny Muwonge1,
  7. Lesley Rose Ninsiima1,
  8. Kjell Torén5,
  9. John Bosco Isunju1,
  10. Olive Kobusingye1,3
  1. 1Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda
  2. 2Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda
  3. 3The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
  4. 4Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda
  5. 5School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Gothenburg Institute of Medicine, Gothenburg, Sweden
  1. Correspondence to Frederick Oporia, Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health, Makere University School of Public Health, P.O.Box: 7072, Kampala, Uganda; foporia{at}musph.ac.ug

Abstract

Background Drowning is a major cause of unintentional injury death worldwide. The toll is greatest in low and middle-income countries. Over 95% of people who drowned while boating in Uganda were not wearing a lifejacket. We explored the determinants of lifejacket use among boaters on Lake Albert, Uganda.

Methods We conducted a qualitative enquiry with a hermeneutic phenomenological undertone leaning on relativism ontology and emic subjectivism epistemology. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) were held with boaters in 10 landing sites. We explored experiences and perspectives on lifejacket use. We used thematic analysis technique to analyse data and report results according to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research.

Results We recruited 88 boaters in 10 FGDs and 11 to take part in the IDIs. We identified three themes: motivators and opportunities for lifejacket use, barriers and threats to lifejacket use, and strategies to improve lifejacket use. Many boaters attributed their lifejacket use to prior experience or witness of a drowning. Perceived high costs of lifejackets, limited knowledge, reluctance to use lifejackets because of distrust in their effectiveness, and the belief that it is women who should wear lifejackets were among the barriers and threats. Participants mentioned the need for mandatory enforcement together with community sensitisations as strategies to improve lifejacket use.

Conclusion Determinants of lifejacket use among boaters include experience or witness of drowning, limited knowledge about lifejackets and distrust in the effectiveness of the available lifejackets. Mandatory lifejacket wearing alongside educational interventions might improve lifejacket use.

  • drowning
  • qualitative research
  • rural
  • behaviour
  • risk perception

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. Due to confidentiality, data are publicly unavailable. However, data may be availed upon reasonable request to the corresponding author on foporia@musph.ac.ug.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2021-044483

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available upon reasonable request. Due to confidentiality, data are publicly unavailable. However, data may be availed upon reasonable request to the corresponding author on foporia@musph.ac.ug.

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    Footnotes

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since it was first published. The open access licence has been updated to CC BY.

    • Contributors All authors made significant contributions to merit coauthorship. FO conceptualised the study, led the writing of the proposal, obtained ethical clearance, supervised the data collection process, oversaw the analysis and led the writing of the manuscript. SPSK and JJ provided technical guidance on the best qualitative approach for the study, and played a supervisory role in the entire process. FN advised on data collection process and participated in the interpretation of findings. FEM, KT and JBI participated in the review of the manuscript to ensure intellectual integrity. TM and LRN participated in the data analysis, while OK provided expert advice as the senior in the field of drowning prevention. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript. However, FO takes full responsibility for the conduct of the study and final manuscript as the guarantor; he had full access to the data, and controlled the decision to publish.

    • Funding This study was partly supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies (51606) through the CDC Foundation and the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). CARTA is jointly led by the African Population and Health Research Centre and the University of the Witwatersrand; and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (grant no: B 8606.R02), Sida (grant no: 54100029), the DELTAS Africa Initiative (grant no: 107768/Z/15/Z). The DELTAS Africa Initiative is an independent funding scheme of the African Academy of Sciences' (AAS) Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) and supported by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency) with funding from the Wellcome Trust (UK) and the UK government.

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    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.