Face validity of a new aquatic skill assessment tool: RAEE (refuse, assist, effective, efficient)

Drowning is recognized globally as a neglected public health issue. Learning to swim is one important component of a multi-sectoral approach to drowning prevention. The assessment of aquatic skills can be complicated due to the variety of disparate approaches and programs found within learn-to-swim. Establishing the validity of any assessment tools is necessary. A descriptive qualitative design with face-to-face focus groups of AUSTSWIM trainers was used to establish the face validity of an assessment tool known as RAEE (Refuse, Assisted, Effective, Efficient), against the Australian Water Safety Council's 2016 benchmarked aquatic skills. Three assessment related themes were found: Issues with the competent/not yet competent approach; more wide-ranging concerns within the learn-to-swim industry in general; and the usefulness of the RAEE tool. This study confirmed the face validity of the RAEE assessment tool and was found to be a useful tool to implement in aquatic skills assessment.