A conversation with Carol Irwin PhD, one of the key researchers for more than a decade around the issue of swimming competence among populations. We discuss her research teams latest qualitative report “Factors impacting Swim participation and Competence,” which aims to understand why we see lower swimming proficiency rates in underserved populations.

Dr. Irwin has PhD in Curriculum and Instruction/Health Education and an MA Sport Pedagogy. She is an associate professor of physical education, teacher education in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Memphis.

Dr. Irwin has been the Principal Investigator for several USA Swimming research studies, including “Constraints Impacting Minority Swimming Participation.” This nation-wide study was the first research to determine minority youth swimming ability, and to dig deeper to explore possible reasons why these underserved populations drown at such high rates.

She has also taken action to solve the problem by becoming research chair of Splash mid-south, a community-based program that supports diversity in swimming as well as decreasing drowning rates.

Dr. Irwin discusses her background and what drove her and the other members of the research team to prioritize study of this phenomenon.

She discusses the research methodology, of the May 2020 qualitative report, how it built off previous work, and some of the limitations. We review the key findings of the report including the insights that allow understanding about why we lower swimming competency in underserved populations and in what direction are the numbers moving.

Finally, Dr. Irwin provides insight into potential solutions.


About Dr. Carol Irwin, PhD
https://www.memphis.edu/healthsciences/contact/faculty/carolirwin.php
https://umwa.memphis.edu/fcv/viewprofile.php?uuid=cirwi

Factors Impacting Swimming Participation and Competence:
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1568&context=ijare

Youth Swimming Ability and Associated Factors in the United States, 2010-17:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30688639/

Constraints Impacting Minority Swimming Participation:
https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/parent/learn-to-swim/2008_minority_swimming_research.pdf
Red Cross Centennial Campaign
https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/swimming/centennial


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