Development and validation of an attitude measure in open water activities

Although individual attitudes play a critical role in understanding risky behaviors during open water activities, an attitude scale for open water activities has not yet been developed in the fields of sports and leisure. Thus, this study developed and validated an attitude scale for open water activities (AS-OWA) to better understand participants’ safety perceptions. For the pilot study (n = 226) and the main study (n = 392), we collected data from individuals participating in open water activities. Results showed that the AS-OWA comprised 27 items across four subfactors (i.e. appreciation, determination, imprudence, and caution) and had adequate psychometric properties. The findings of this study contribute to predicting the risky behaviors of open water activity participants and support the development of educational and intervention programs to minimize the fatality rate related to drowning.