Assessment of satisfaction of the health and safety of swimming in Tabriz City

Indoor swimming pools are among the most common forms of leisure activities. However, lack of health considerations provides a suitable environment for the growth of germs ultimately putting the swimmer's health at risk. The aim of this study was to determine satisfaction of health and safety of swimming pools in Tabriz in year 2014 from swimmer's perspective. In this descriptive study, 313 swimmers were selected from all 1700 swimmers in one morning session of women (at 11 am) and one session of men in the afternoon (at 5 pm) on a Friday. This procedure was conducted in all 25 swimming pools in Tabriz through Morgan table and via convenience sampling method as the statistical population. The data were collected by “Health and Safety Pools Questionnaire”. Validity of the questionnaire was measured by content validity and its reliability by Alpha Cronbach (a=0.85). Among the distributed questionnaire, 288 of them were completed from which were scored and then analyzed by SPSS/21. Mean scores revealed that in a 1 to 5 Liker scale of satisfaction in pools of Tabriz, swimmer's satisfaction was 3.41 from water hygiene, 3.27 from clean environment, 3.45 from safety in the pool and 3.64 from the staff working in the pools. Nevertheless, the difference in the satisfaction levels of men and women was significant. Moreover, there was a significant difference in hygiene and safety of various swimming pools in Tabriz (P=0.01). Swimmers were generally satisfied with water hygiene, environment, safety and staff. Besides, women were more satisfied with water hygiene and swimming pool safety compared to men. It is recommended healthcare authorities offer educational and technical seminars and workshops for the staff members on hygiene and safety in swimming pools.