Lightning safety awareness of visitors in three California national parks.
Wilderness Environ Med
; 22(3): 257-61, 2011 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21778092
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To assess the level of lightning safety awareness among visitors at 3 national parks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.METHODS:
A 12-question, short answer convenience sample survey was administered to participants 18 years of age and over concerning popular trails and points of interest with known lightning activity. There were 6 identifying questions and 5 knowledge-based questions pertaining to lightning that were scored on a binary value of 0 or 1 for a total of 10 points for the survey instrument. Volunteers in Fresno, California, were used as a control group. Participants were categorized as Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park (SEKI), frontcountry (FC), or backcountry (BC); Yosemite National Park (YNP) FC or BC; and Fresno. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test for differences between groups.RESULTS:
467 surveys were included foranalysis:
77 in Fresno, 192 in SEKI, and 198 in YNP. National park participants demonstrated greater familiarity with lightning safety than individuals from the metropolitan community (YNP 5.84 and SEKI 5.65 vs Fresno 5.14, P = .0032). There were also differences noted between the BC and FC subgroups (YNP FC 6.07 vs YNP BC 5.62, P = .02; YNP FC 6.07 vs SEKI FC 5.58, P = .02). Overall results showed that participants had certain basic lightning knowledge but lacked familiarity with other key lightning safety recommendations.CONCLUSIONS:
While there are statistically significant differences in lightning safety awareness between national parks and metropolitan participants, the clinical impact of these findings are debatable. This study provides a starting point for providing educational outreach to visitors in these national parks.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Segurança
/
Viagem
/
Lesões Provocadas por Raio
Tipo de estudo:
Guideline
/
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2011
Tipo de documento:
Article