Learning and perceptions of students with intellectual disabilities about a lifesaving workshop

Abstract

Background: People with intellectual disabilities may be exposed to a greater risk of drowning than the rest of the population because the education they receive does not usually develop the skills that prevent it.

Goals: The objectives of this study have been two: the first of them was to know the conceptual learning acquired in the workshop by these people. The second was to know the opinion and feelings generated by this workshop in the students.

Methodology: 13 people with mild and moderate intellectual disability (ID) (7 men and 6 women) participated in a theoretical-practical workshop about aquatic safety. The workshop consisted of 2 sessions and took place in an indoor pool. A qualitative methodology was used in this study and the instrument used to collect information was the reflective diary.

Results: The results show that the students acquired useful learning to improve their aquatic safety. In addition, the participants stated that they liked the workshop a lot because they had fun learning new and useful things to collaborate with their classmates and to help others.

Conclusions: In short, providing to the entire population with controlled experiences in which they can experience the difficulty and risk involved in making a water rescue is a useful tool to prevent people from trying to resolve drowning without being properly trained to do it. So, it is recommended that the education of people with intellectual disabilities teaches skills, resources and experiences that improve their aquatic education.

Keywords: Intellectual disability, water rescue, water safety, drowning prevention, aquatic education, life ring buoy, rescue tube, social justice.