Files and links (1)
Heat and sun related medical concerns in Australian led outdoor activities - a three-year prospective study775.45 kB
Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Heat and sun related medical concerns in Australian led outdoor activities: a three-year prospective study
Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, Vol.25(2), pp.145-157
2022
Abstract
Active participation in the outdoors is beneficial for health and wellbeing. However , the impact of extreme weather, particularly heat, on safe participation is causing concern for organisations who lead these activities. Local mitigation strategies and acute management of heat-and sun-related illness (HSRI) are generally well understood by researchers and medical practitioners, however, cases continue to occur so further understanding of why this happens is required. This study aimed to identify the number, nature and contributory factors of HSRI in Australian led outdoor activities in order to seek opportunities for their prevention. This study presents a descriptive analysis of contributory factors to HSRI occurring during led outdoor activities. Cases were prospectively collected across 3 years (2014-2017) from a national Australian incident reporting system. Cases were included by identification of keywords linked with sun or heat exposure. From 2,015 incident cases, 48 cases were included: 25 termed heat stroke and 23 as " other adverse outcomes related to sun or heat. " One in three (35%) cases occurred during outdoor walking or running, and one in four occurred while camping. A total 146 contributory factors were identified. These factors were attributed to the activity participant (e.g. competence, decision making); equipment and resources (e.g. food/drink, dehydration); and environment (e.g. hot weather.). Mild to moderate HSRI was identifiable by signs/symptoms. Contributory factors were linked to the individual participant. Potentially, these factors could be mitigated through system focused approaches. Awareness of wider responsibility for preventing HSRI should be promoted across led outdoor activities.
Details
- Title
- Heat and sun related medical concerns in Australian led outdoor activities: a three-year prospective study
- Authors
- Lauren V. Fortington (Corresponding Author) - Edith Cowan UniversityNatassia Goode (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Human Factors and Systems ScienceCaroline F. Finch AO (Author) - Edith Cowan UniversityPaul Salmon (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science
- Publication details
- Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, Vol.25(2), pp.145-157
- Publisher
- Springer
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1007/s42322-022-00094-1
- ISSN
- 2522-879X; 2206-3110
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99632440702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
10 File views/ downloads
32 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Education & Educational Research
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites