ArticlePLOS global public health2026
Community risk perceptions and recommendations for drowning prevention: A qualitative study across West Bengal, India.
Article in PLOS global public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Drowning is a leading cause of injury-related mortality worldwide, with disproportionate impacts on low- and middle-income countries. West Bengal, India, is characterized by extensive exposure to natural water bodies and marked regional and urban-rural heterogeneity. There is limited research on community risk perceptions and contextual drivers of drowning in this area, which constrains the design of effective prevention strategies. This qualitative study applied a phenomenological approach and conducted 46 focus group discussions involving a total of 339 participants from urban and rural communities across all 23 districts of West Bengal. Districts were selected based on recent drowning incidents. Adult residents were purposively sampled with support from local humanitarian organization. Data collection combined semi-structured interviews in local language, audio recording, and thematic analysis, iteratively coded to saturation using NVivo software. Four major themes emerged: (1) infrastructure and risk varies between urban and rural regions for instance differences in use and type of water sources, healthcare access and community connectedness; (2) Community awareness of population vulnerability, environmental risks, and other contextual exposures to drowning were identified where children, elderly, domestic migrant workers and non-swimmers were found to be vulnerable; (3) Adaptive response to threat through prevention, accessibility and rescue methods included informal rescue, reliance on traditional beliefs and expressions of fatalism; (4) Community recommendations based on lived experiences and risk perception of drowning were focused on fencing water bodies, enhancing childcare programs, strengthening medical infrastructure and providing swimming instruction. Infrastructure gaps and climate variability further heighten drowning risks in particularly exposed regions and households. Community risk perceptions underscore urgent priorities for drowning prevention in West Bengal. While findings are consistent across districts, intervention priorities vary according to regional needs.Strategies should strengthen supervision, physical barriers, childcare, water safety education, and access to critical care, informed by local perceptions and practices.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.