Lessons learned from co‐designing a high school beach safety education program with lifeguards and students

ISSUE ADDRESSED: School‐based beach safety education programs are common, but best practice guidance and information on their design and development is limited. METHODS: Researchers, professional ocean lifeguards and students participated in a co‐design process to inform a lifeguard‐delivered, school‐based beach safety education program for a coastal community in New South Wales, Australia. Lifeguards and researchers (experts) provided structured feedback about the program in a survey and facilitated workshop; students (n = 26) aged 11 to 13 years participated in focus group sessions intended to garner in‐depth understanding of their experiences at the beach and knowledge of, and attitudes towards, beach safety. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The co‐design process provided a novel and inclusive model for beach safety education program development, and valuable lessons for future efforts. Specifically, student focus groups identified several facets of pre‐teens and younger teenagers' beach experience that prompted revision of the education program, primarily framing of program content and safety messages. Peers are a primary motivator for this age group and students' burgeoning independence emerged as an important theme. While knowledgeable about beach hazards and risks, students conveyed mixed safety attitudes and self‐reported safety practices, highlighting the importance of designing programs to motivate behaviour and promote safe decision‐making vs raising awareness alone. Findings illustrate the value of adopting co‐design processes for all beach safety programs, school or otherwise. SO WHAT? Beach safety programs may not be delivering information that is needed, wanted or useful. Structured consultation with the priority population must become standard practice in beach safety and drowning prevention education program development.