A scoping review of the literature on effectiveness of legislative and regulatory measures to prevent drowning

Drowning has been the cause of millions of deaths over the last decade. Regulation is believed to be an effective measure in drowning prevention efforts; however regulatory regimes vary substantially. This study sought to (1) map the coverage of legislation and regulation related to drowning prevention; (2) examine the effectiveness of these regulatory measures; (3) explore the lessons learnt from the development, implementation, and enforcement, and; (4) provide an overall assessment of the quality of this literature. A systematic scoping review was undertaken of the academic and grey literature. Papers were included if they gave insight into regulatory coverage or reported findings explicitly related to drowning prevention policies, laws, or regulation. After screening 25 papers (21 academic, four grey literature) were included in this review. While the literature provides some insights into global regulatory coverage when it comes to drowning prevention, this varies substantially. Relatively few studies have directly assessed the effectiveness of regulation. Global regulatory coverage varies substantially, however when done well, regulatory efforts appear to be promising intervention when it comes to drowning prevention. However, the effectiveness of regulation is dependent on a range of factors, like resourcing and enforcement. Given the limited literature in this area, there is no clear picture of what works, for whom, and why.