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Educating the public about the rip current hazard is a primary focus of beach safety practitioners, but there has been a lack of qualitative research exploring the firsthand experiences of being caught in a rip current to assist in this regard. The aim of this study was to analyse interviews of rip current survivors to understand more about how people react when unintentionally caught in a rip current in order to help guide future public education to mitigate rip current drowning.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Semi\u2010structured interviews were conducted with 56 individuals (primarily Australian\u2010born) about their experience of being caught in a rip current. Interviewees were recruited via an online survey and varied in age and self\u2010reported swimming ability.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Thematic analysis revealed three key temporal elements to the rip current experience: <jats:italic>Before the Rip<\/jats:italic> in which lack of awareness and knowledge, complacency, over\u2010confidence, and attitude were prevalent themes; <jats:italic>During the Rip<\/jats:italic> which identified panic and temporary inhibition of decision\u2010making, physical response, prior experience, and relationships with other beach users as themes; and <jats:italic>After the Rip<\/jats:italic> where post\u2010rip effects and rip safety messaging and education were key themes. The importance of <jats:italic>experiential immersion w<\/jats:italic>as a prevalent thread throughout all phases of the thematic analysis.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our research shows that being caught in a rip current can be an intense and traumatic experience and that lessons learned from survivors have significant implications for improving existing and future rip current education efforts. In this regard, we provide several recommendations based on evidence\u2010based insights gained from our interviews including the development of immersive rip current experience using virtual reality.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>So What<\/jats:title><jats:p>Despite the prevalence of rip currents causing drowning deaths and rescues, there has been a lack of qualitative research on firsthand experiences to aid in public education. These interviews emphasise the intense and traumatic nature of being caught in a rip current, underscoring the need for improved rip current education to aid in prevention of this, often harrowing, experience.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1002\/hpja.785","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,7]],"date-time":"2023-08-07T16:49:42Z","timestamp":1691426982000},"page":"551-564","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["\u2018I actually thought that I was going to die\u2019: Lessons on the rip current\u00a0hazard from survivor experiences"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"35","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4944-7826","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samuel","family":"Cornell","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Beach Safety Research Group UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7268-2587","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert W.","family":"Brander","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beach Safety Research Group UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amelia","family":"Roberts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beach Safety Research Group UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4708-4347","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"William","family":"Koon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beach Safety Research Group UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6424-1511","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amy E.","family":"Peden","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beach Safety Research Group UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"School of Population Health UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6652-3053","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jasmin C.","family":"Lawes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Beach Safety Research Group UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences UNSW Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"Surf Life Saving Australia  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_9_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11069-009-9458-0"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5194\/nhess-13-1069-2013"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_9_4_1","article-title":"Public understanding and knowledge of rip currents and beach safety in the UK","volume":"9","author":"Woodward E","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int J Aquat Res Educ"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_9_5_1","first-page":"313","article-title":"Rip current\u2010related fatalities in India: a new predictive risk scale for forecasting rip currents","volume":"70","author":"Kumar SA","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nat Hazards J Int Soc Prev Mitig Nat Hazards"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2112\/SI72-009.1"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11069-015-1626-9"},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_2_9_8_1","first-page":"811","article-title":"Rip current fatalities on the Black Sea beaches of Istanbul and effects of cultural aspects in shaping the incidents","volume":"80","author":"Barlas B","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nat Hazards J Int Soc Prev Mitig Nat Hazards."},{"key":"e_1_2_9_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11069-018-3354-4"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5194\/nhess-19-389-2019"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2021.105734"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_12_1","volume-title":"Coastal safety brief: rip currents","author":"Cooper B","year":"2021"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_13_1","unstructured":"Summer Coastal Drowning Report 2022\/23 by SLSA\u2014Issuu [Internet].2023[cited 2023 Apr 5]. 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