Parents’ knowledge towards prevention of unintentional injuries in children aged up to 14 years

Abstract

Abstract The CHILD Vigilance project is a European study supported by the Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion Section of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA INJ) and aims at assessing parenting knowledge and attitudes that are relevant to supervision and risk taking in children. The study aims contribute to the epidemiological knowledge of injuries and accidents in Greece and Portugal, through the study of the knowledge of the perceptions of parents and caregivers of children and adolescents between 0 and 14 years old. A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study was developed in these countries during the period from february till april 2023, under the CHILD Vigilance project. In this study was obtained a total of 577 valid responses, involving 890 children (53,1% male; 46,8% female), with an average age of 8,9 years old. In both countries the mother was the main child carer (60,3% in Greece vs 60,1% in Portugal). In majority of the cases parents had two children (30,1% in Greece vs 44,9% in Portugal). The results revealed that almost all the parents knew about unintentional injuries (82,4 % in Greece vs 92,3% in Portugal), considered that have a big impact on children (89,8% in Greece vs 66,9% in Portugal) and injuries are preventable (63,2% in Greece vs 88,4% in Portugal). Considering data from both countries, the analysis of the association of parents’ knowledge with their occupation showed that civile servant were those who most considered that injuries have a big impact on children (86,5% - mother; 83,2% - father) and that injuries can be preventable (87,9% - mother; 84,9% - father), these differences were statistically significant (p < 0,01). The results may inform the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions to promote safety and prevent accidents in these both countries. Key messages • The lack of data regarding to parents’ knowledge on injury prevention involving children highlight the need to conduct this type of studies. • Education injuries prevention programs addressed to parents should be design considering demographic variables.