Abstract
BackgroundHome hazards are associated with toddlers receiving unintentional home injuries (UHI). These result in not only physical and psychological difficulties for children, but also economic losses and additional stress for their families. Few researchers pay attention to predictors of home hazards among toddlers in a systematic way. The purpose of this study is firstly to describe the characteristics of homes with hazards and secondly to explore the predicted relationship of children, parents and family factors to home hazards among toddlers aged 24–47 months in Wenzhou, China.MethodsA random cluster sampling was employed to select 366 parents having children aged 24 – 47 months from 13 kindergartens between March and April of 2012. Four instruments assessed home hazards, demographics, parent’s awareness of UHI, as well as family functioning.ResultsDescriptive statistics showed that the mean of home hazards was 12.29 (SD = 6.39). The nine kinds of home hazards that were identified in over 50% of households were: plastic bags (74.3%), coin buttons (69.1%), and toys with small components (66.7%) etc. Multivariate linear regression revealed that the predictors of home hazards were the child’s age, the child’s residential status and family functioning (b = .19, 2.02, - .07, p < .01, < .05 and < .01, respectively).ConclusionsThe results showed that a higher number of home hazards were significantly attributed to older toddlers, migrant toddlers and poorer family functioning. This result suggested that heath care providers should focus on the vulnerable family and help the parents assess home hazards. Further study is needed to find interventions on how to manage home hazards for toddlers in China.
Highlights
Home hazards are associated with toddlers receiving unintentional home injuries (UHI)
Home hazards are more likely to be influenced by factors in three domains: child factors, parent factors and family factors
A few research findings found that parents’ low educational status and low awareness of UHI was positively associated with home hazards [17,18,19,20]
Summary
Home hazards are associated with toddlers receiving unintentional home injuries (UHI). These result in physical and psychological difficulties for children, and economic losses and additional stress for their families. Unintentional home injuries (UHI) result in substantial health problems to children and negative impacts on their families, and in large financial losses for countries [5,6,7,8]. Families with more members, low income or poor housing would be positively associated with more home hazards. These alternative explanations have not been adequately tested
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