Cue utilization and pool lifeguarding.

INTRODUCTION: Amongst pool lifeguards, the capacity to identify drowning swimmers quickly and accurately depends on the interpretation of critical cues. However, assessing the capacity for cue utilization amongst lifeguards at present is costly, time-consuming, and largely subjective. The aim of this study was to test the relationship between cue utilization and the detection of drowning swimmers in a series of virtual public swimming pool scenarios.

METHOD: Eighty-seven participants with or without lifeguarding experience engaged in three virtual scenarios, two of which were target scenarios where drowning events occurred within a 13 minute or 23 minute period of watch. Cue utilization was assessed using the pool lifeguarding edition of the EXPERTise 2.0 software following which 23 participants were classified with higher cue utilization, while the remaining participants were classified with lower cue utilization.

RESULTS: The results revealed that participants with higher cue utilization were more likely to have acquired experience as a lifeguard, were more likely to detect the drowning swimmer within a three minute period, and, in the case of the 13 minute scenario, recorded a greater dwell time on the drowning victim prior to the drowning event.

CONCLUSION: The results suggest that cue utilization is associated with drowning detection performance in a simulated environment and could be employed as a basis for assessments of performance amongst lifeguards in the future.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Measures of cue utilization are associated with the timely detection of drowning victims in virtual pool lifeguarding scenarios. Employers and trainers of lifeguards can potentially augment existing lifeguarding assessment programs to quickly and cost-effectively identify the capabilities of lifeguards. This is especially useful for new lifeguards or where pool lifeguarding is a seasonal activity that might be associated with skill decay.