Home-related injuries among under-five-year children and mothers' care regarding injury prevention in rural areas

This cross-sectional study was conducted in rural areas of Twiserkan (Toyserkan) County, in Iran, to assess factors associated with home-related injuries among under-five-year children and their mothers’ care regarding injury prevention. Mothers who had their under-five-year-old children injured within a 12-month period were identified from recorded information in Twiserkan Health Center. Then, data were gathered using pre-tested questionnaire and through interview with injured children's mothers. The questions were about characteristics of the children's injuries and their mothers’ care regarding injury prevention, using PRECEDE (Predisposing, Reinforcing, and Enabling Constructs in Educational/Environmental Diagnosis and Evaluation) model with focus on knowledge and attitude; enabling and reinforcing factors; and mothers' preventive behaviours. The study results showed that 197 out of 210 total identified mothers took part in the study. The reported injuries were 11.68%, 39.09%, and 49.24%, respectively, for severe, moderate, and mild cases. Fall was the most frequent injury with 35%. Among PRECEDE model constructs, there was a statistically significant correlation between mothers' knowledge and injury severity among children. Home-related injuries are an important health problem among study population and their prediction and prevention are necessary. Enhancement of mothers’ knowledge can be helpful to improve child injury prevention.     

Knowledge and attitudes of adolescents regarding home economics in Tromsø, Norway

The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of adolescents in Tromsø relating to nutrition; whether pupil behaviour and attitudes regarding nutrition had changed in the tenth grade compared with the eighth grade; and whether this was linked to pupils’ home economics lessons in grade 9. In total, 606 adolescents (321 boys and 285 girls) were studied on two different occasions – 2002 and 2005. A food frequency questionnaire focusing on 16 different food and beverage groups was used. It investigated knowledge and attitudes, the amounts of food items consumed and the socio‐economic situation of the participants and their families. The study produced interesting findings. The boys had surprisingly low knowledge of fruit and vegetables that did not change in a positive direction, between the eighth and tenth grades. The change among the girls was very small and therefore this study concludes that the teaching of home economics had no significant influence on the pupils’ knowledge of and attitudes towards eating fruit and vegetables. The study of home economics does not appear to enhance adolescents’ skills and attitudes to the extent expected from the curriculum. But there are gender differences at both grades. Changes in the home economics course are necessary to improve children's and adolescents’ knowledge and attitudes. Increased focus on the scope and variety of teaching methods will be a key to improvement. Future research is required to understand the potential of the home economics curricula to change adolescents’ knowledge about and attitudes to home economics in Norway.     

Incidence and characteristics of unintentional injuries among children in a resource limited setting in Kampala,Uganda

ABSTRACT

Given that little is known about the epidemiology of unintentional injuries in children in low-income countries, this study sought to determine the incidence and characteristics of unintentional injuries among children aged ≤18 years in a slum community in Uganda. From a household survey, the incidence and odds ratios for factors associated with unintentional injury characteristics were calculated. Of 1583 children, 706 had suffered 787 unintentional injuries yielding an annual incidence rate of 497 injuries per 1000 children. Commonest injuries were cuts, bites or open wounds (30.6%) and bruises or superficial injuries (28.6%) with majority (75.5%) occurring at home. Boys were more likely to be injured at school (AOR 4.34; 95% CI 1.22–15.54) and to be injured from falls (AOR 1.41; 95% CI 1.01–1.96). Older children (12–18 years) were more likely to suffer from fractures (AOR 2.37; 95% CI 1.26–4.43), concussions and organ system injuries (AOR 3.58; 95% CI 1.03–12.39) and cuts, bites or open wounds (AOR 2.05; 95% CI 1.21–3.48). Older children were less likely to suffer burns or scalds as compared to the young children (AOR: 0.23; 95% CI 0.11–0.50). Unintentional injury incidence rate was high among children with most occurring in the homes.     

Children’s Food Choice: Advertised Food Type,Health Knowledge and Entertainment

The purpose of this research is to examine how the moderating effects of health knowledge (inactive vs. active) and advertising’s entertainment level (high vs. low) affect children’s response to advertising’s food content (unhealthy vs. healthy). First, a primary study using the qualitative method was conducted with the purpose of identifying healthy and unhealthy food options based on culture, eating habits, nutritional value and the access of Iranian children to each option so that they could be displayed in TV advertising, advergames and questionnaires. Then, a 2 × 2 × 2 full-factorial, randomized, mixed-effects experimental design was used to test the research framework. 330 students (aged 6–11) participated in the study. The findings revealed that children tended to choose more unhealthy foods after exposure to unhealthy food advertising. This effect was greater for a higher level of entertainment, and was successfully moderated by the activation of health knowledge. It was concluded that embedding health messages in advertising (included TV advertising and advergames) help retrieving children’s health knowledge and therefore, choosing less unhealthy food by them.     

Childhood and adolescent injuries in elementary schools in north-western Uganda: extent,risk and associated factors

Childhood injuries remain understudied in Uganda. The objective of this study was to determine the extent, nature and determinants of school-related childhood injury risk in north-western Uganda. A cohort of 1000 grade fives from 13 elementary schools was followed-up for one term. Survival and multi-level modelling techniques compared the risk rates across gender, schools and locations. Childhood injuries are common in north-western Uganda. Most of them occur during travel, breaks, practical classes and gardening, while walking, playing, learning and digging. Most injuries result from collisions with objects, sports and falls. Two-thirds of children receive first aid and hospital care. Times to injury were 72.1 and 192.9 person days (p = 0.0000). Gender differences in time to event were significant (p = 0.0091). Girls had better survival rates: cumulative prevalence of childhood injury was 36.1%; with significant gender differences (p = 0.007). Injury rate was 12.3/1000 person days, with a hazard ratio of 1.4. Compared to girls, boys had a 37% higher injury rate (p = 0.004). Rates varied among schools. Associated factors include sex and school. Rural–urban location and school differences do influence childhood injury risk. Childhood injuries are common: the risk is high, gender- and school-specific. Determinants include gender and school. Location and school contexts influence injury risk.     

How socioeconomic status influences road traffic injuries and home injuries in Rome

Road traffic injuries (RTI) and home injuries (HI) are a relevant public health problem, especially among people living in deprived areas. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between morbidity, hospitalisation, mortality from RTI and HI, and socioeconomic status (SES) of the area of residence. RTI and HI surveillance based on the Emergency Information System, the Hospital Information System and the Mortality Registry of Lazio region are the three sources of this study to create a unique surveillance system. For each subject, the SES index (5 levels) of its census tract of residence was obtained. The study population included emergency department admissions (year 2005) of residents in Rome, Italy. Incidence Rate Ratios (IRRs) have been estimated using Poisson Regression. The rates of RTI and HI emergency department visits were higher among the most deprived level of SES (IRR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.24–1.30; IRR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.29–1.37, respectively) compared to the most privileged ones; a similar result was found for hospitalisation (IRR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.08–1.32; IRR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.01–1.22). A strong relation was found between RTI mortality rates and poor level of SES. The study concluded that RTI and HI incidence were associated to sociodemographic factors.     

Interpersonal violence in the United Arab Emirates

We aimed to study the anatomical distribution, severity and outcome of hospitalised interpersonal violence-related injured patients in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates so as to give recommendations regarding the magnitude of this problem, its causes and priorities of prevention. Data were retrieved from Al-Ain Hospital Trauma Registry, which was prospectively collected over three years. There were 75 patients (males = 85.3%) having a mean age of 30 years. Eighty-one percent had blunt trauma. The estimated annual injury hospitalisation of interpersonal violence in Al-Ain city was 6.7 per 100,000 population. Females were significantly more injured by a family member (p = 0.02), at home (p = 0.005), and had more severe injuries (p = 0.003). There was a trend for children less than 18 years old to have more penetrating trauma (p = 0.06) and to be injured by a family member (p = 0.09). There was only one case of woman sexual assault and two cases of child abuse. The mean (SD) hospital stay was 7.87 (14.1) days. Less than 3% (n = 2) were admitted to the intensive care unit with no deaths. In conclusion, the majority of patients in our study had minor injuries. Nevertheless, the psychological impact may be major. This highlights the need to develop suitable mental health services in support of victims of interpersonal violence.     

Incidence,patterns and risk factors for injuries among Ugandan children

There is limited epidemiological data on childhood injuries in developing countries. This study assessed the incidence, patterns and risk factors for injuries among children aged 0–5 years in Wakiso District, Uganda. To determine differences, chi-square and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used. Risk factors were assessed using Poisson regression. Overall, information from 359 children of mean age 32 months (SD: 18.4) was collected. Annual incidence of injuries was 69.8 per 1000 children/year (95% CI 58.8–80.8). One fatal injury due to burns was reported. Incidence of injuries was less associated with being female (IRR: 0.56, 95% CI 0.34–0.90) and increasing age of the caretaker (IRR: 0.96, 95% CI 0.92–0.99). The high incidence of childhood injuries necessitates the need for interventions to reduce injuries among children.     

Ethics in Food Advertising to Children in India—A Parental Perspective

Marketers are seen to bombard children with advertisements for unhealthy foods using sophisticated promotion techniques that have serious negative effects on health and overall well-being of children. So parents try to mediate children’s exposure to media content and call for governmental regulations in an attempt to shield them. The extent to which they mediate further determines whether they contemplate food advertisements as being ethical or unethical. Therefore, the present study tries to uncover the antecedents to ethical versus unethical perceptions of Indian parents about food advertisements directed at children. No study, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, has been conducted so far in India in this regard. Using binary logistic regression with mothers, it is found that the mothers who view food advertisements as unethical report their children to watch fewer hours of TV during weekdays and hold negative attitudes toward advertising to children. These mothers, however, do not feel that the government needs to impose restrictions on food advertisements aired on TV since they themselves indulge in mediation of TV advertising as a general parenting responsibility. The implications of the article are finally discussed.     

Injuries in preschool children: the hypothetical protector effect of minor injuries and risk factors for minor and medically attended injuries

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between minor and medically attended injuries and to analyse the influence of child-related factors and family-related factors in injuries of preschool children. Individual interviews were conducted with 335 parents of 1- to 5-year-old children. Parents informed about the child and the family variables and reported the child's history of injuries in the last year. The frequencies of minor injuries and medically attended injuries were not correlated. The risk factors for both kinds of injuries include the number of siblings and the size of the family. Minor injuries were more frequent in older than in younger children. Medically attended injuries were more frequent in boys than in girls. The risk factors that influence minor and medically attended injuries are different, suggesting that the strategies to prevent and reduce injuries need to take that difference into consideration.     

Patterns of injuries and motor-vehicle traffic accidents in Athens

The extremely high cost of motor-vehicle accidents in public health leads to the necessity of a better injury data collection in the Accident and Emergency Hospital Departments. The ‘Asclepeion’ of Voula Hospital covers the southeastern suburban areas of the greater Athens area (1 000 000 population). The aim of this study is to present information on the pattern of injuries in Athens, in order to understand the magnitude of the problem and develop rational prevention programmes. Specially trained health visitors of the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System (EDISS) interviewed in person every injured victim who was brought into the Emergency Service of the ‘Asclepeion’ of Voula Hospital. The study was performed during a 3-year period, from 1996 to 1998; 4564 persons were interviewed. Traffic accidents were more frequent on weekdays with a seasonal peak in July and among young Greeks (aged 25 – 34 years). The usual type of injuries seen in vehicle-accident victims were cerebral contusion and concussion, while in motorcycle-accident victims, head contusion and fractures. The most common reasons for the accident were excessive speed, poor condition of road, inattention, abstraction or drowsiness and drug effects. A total of 29.8% of motorcycle drivers and 5.7% of motorcycle passengers wore a helmet and 26.3% of car drivers and 14.1% of car passengers were using seatbelts. The identification of road traffic injury patterns can contribute to the development of injury prevention measures and guide rational preventive interventions that can reduce the incidence of these injuries. The EDISS system established at ‘Asclepeion’ of Voula Emergency Service can provide useful and accurate information about this serious and multidimensional problem of Greek Public Health.     

Consumer goals/skills that mothers want their children to learn

The study purpose was to assess consumer practices and attitudes of mothers (n = 117), and consumer goals/skills that their children were to learn. Mothers with at least one child aged 5–9 years were recruited from an ongoing study and through posters, flyers and referrals. Mail‐out surveys included a validated consumer questionnaire and requests for information related to socioeconomic status (SES), age, paid‐employment and gender/age of children. Responses were analysed using SAS, Cronbach’s alpha and qualitative analyses. Results indicated that mothers were of middle/upper SES and had 2.3 children/family, and 64% were in paid‐employment. Mother–child co‐shopping and mothers’ role modelling were major means of teaching consumer goals/skills. Children were to learn about getting the best buy and quality for the money, cost/unit comparison, being knowledgeable about products and avoidance of impulse buying. Mothers were consciously consumer training their children.     

Costs of unintentional injuries among children in an urban slum community in Kampala city,Uganda

Abstract

Unintentional injuries cause deaths, disabilities, productivity and financial losses and disproportionately affect children in low-income settings yet their cost remains under studied. This study determined the household out-of-pocket expenditure and missed school attendance due to unintentional childhood injuries in a Ugandan slum. We used a cross-sectional household survey design. Data were collected on occurrence and associated costs of unintentional injuries during a one-year period from July 2014 to June 2015. A total of 706 (44.7%) children who had suffered from injuries were reported in the one year period. More male children (N?=?415, 58.7%) suffered injuries than females (N?=?291, 41.2%). The average out-of-pocket expenditure on treating an injury was US $24.1 [standard deviation (SD)?=?±$62.8] and mean school days lost were 25 days (SD?=?±51.8). Road traffic injuries (RTIs) resulted in higher costs [mean difference was US $51.1 (95% CI: $11.4–$90.8)] compared to injuries that, for example, occurred at school. In a Ugandan slum community, unintentional childhood injuries resulted in high out-of-pocket expenditures and missed school attendance. The costs varied widely depending on external causes of the injury. These findings highlight the need to invest in population level injury prevention interventions to reduce injury costs by households.     

学龄前儿童意外伤害流行病学特征及预防对策研究

伤害使儿童、青少年早死或残疾,给家庭和社会带来巨大负担,早死人数的多寡直接影响到人口平均期望寿命的高低.为了解学龄前儿童意外伤害流行病学特征并提出预防干预对策,对武汉市部分城区学龄前儿童意外伤害的发生进行了现场调查研究.经统计分析,儿童的行为特点与意外伤害的发生均存在密切联系;伤害的类型以摔碰伤、车祸、坠落伤及切割伤居前四位.在调研基础上提出了干预和控制学龄前儿童意外伤害的对策.     

Female,married and endorsing: integrating celebrity marital status,role congruence and credibility

In this study, we investigate the effect of marital status and perceived role congruence (RCN) of a female celebrity endorser on consumer attitudes incorporating the role of credibility in the Indian context. The research hypotheses were tested using a series of experimental designs. The main study had a 4 (Celebrity: Unmarried/Just Married/Married but Endorsing/Married and Comeback) × 2 (Product: Role Congruent/Role Incongruent) full factorial design. Non-student samples were used in this study. Major findings implied a significant effect of celebrity marital status, RCN and the interaction term on consumer attitudes. The three source credibility dimensions were found to have differential effects on consumer attitudes when they were included as moderators. This study finds evidence in support of diminishing effectiveness of female celebrities over time/marriage. In this study, we explored a new dimension of congruence (RCN) and found the same to influence consumer attitudes favourably towards the endorsed product.     

Socio-cultural predictors of injuries: life-course experience of hospitalised injuries during the past century in the Velestino study

Retrospective reviews provide unique opportunity to assess changing approaches to trauma in recent history and identify modifiable behaviours through the lessons of the past. The objective of this paper is to depict the nearly one-century long, life-course injury experience of seniors residing in Velestino, an agricultural Greek town, and comment on neglected determinants and transitional patterns following historical and socio-cultural events in the area. The life-course experience of non-fatal injuries, requiring hospitalisation, has been reported by N = 643 study participants, aged 65–102 years. Injuries were grouped and assessed in three ways: chronologically, by body part and by type. Overall, 124 injuries have been recorded over the past 70 years; the majority sustained by men (58.6%), and the highest number of injuries occurred during the recent decades, 1980s–1990s. For the age groups 26–45 and 46–65 years old, traffic (37.5% and 22.2%) and occupational (25.0% and 22.2%) events have been the commonest cause of injury, whereas injuries occurring at home were primary hazard (25.8%) for the elderly. Moreover, meaningful historical connections with warfare and migration movements were made. In retrospect, socio-cultural factors emerge as important predictors of certain injuries, pointing to the number of factors that should be taken into account when designing injury-prevention programmes.     

Parents’ knowledge,behaviour and concerns of food chemical hazards: Korean mothers sending their preschool‐aged children to child care centres

Although incidences of foodborne illness caused by chemical hazards are increasing, the studies on public awareness of food chemical hazards are limited. This study was conducted to assess mothers’ knowledge, behaviour and concerns on diverse food chemical hazards. A total of 960 mothers sending their preschool‐aged children to child care centres in Gwanak‐Gu, Seoul, Korea were surveyed, and 633 (65.9%) returned the questionnaires. After excluding inappropriate questionnaires, 364 (37.9%) were analysed. The majority of the mothers were able to identify food categories containing acrylamide (83.2%) and trans fat (80.2%), while slightly over half of the mothers named food categories containing allergen (56.3%) or pesticide residues (57.1%). Less than two thirds of mothers were knowledgeable of human exposure pathway to environmental contaminants (59.3%), acrylamide (55.2%) or heavy metals (65.9%). A significant number of mothers showed familiarity on health risk from dietary exposure to environmental contaminants (82.4%), trans fat (91.5%) or heavy metals (96.7%) (P < 0.05). The data on safe food behaviour towards environmental contaminants (81.8%), acrylamide (98.0%), heavy metals (96.7%) and trans fat (90.6%) showed high levels of right behaviours. About 47.2% and 22.8% of mothers read label of food additives and ingredient statement on allergen when purchasing processed foods, respectively. Mothers seemed to be concerned about food chemical hazards. Among the sociodemographic characteristics, only age significantly differentiated mothers’ concerns on chemical hazards in foods (P < 0.05). This study suggests that mothers needed to be educated on food chemical hazards regardless of their education levels, occupation status or the number of child.     

The impact of conditions associated with maternal employment on the diet quality of young children

Questionnaire and dietary intake data from employed mothers with pre-school children were examined to discern the effects of employment-related conditions on the diet quality of preschool children. These conditions included role satisfaction of the mother, household support and perceived quality of child care. Multivariate analysis showed few effects of these conditions on diet quality. Role satisfaction was positively correlated with dietary fat intake and maternal education level was negatively correlated with calcium intake. Overall, this study showed that working mothers were able to provide a sound diet for their children regardless of their numerous responsibilities.     

Children's perception of dinner conversation with parents in Japan

The children's perception of dinner and dinner conversation with their parents was surveyed for sixth‐grade students of elementary school in Japan. The data were analysed from the gender of children and attending parents. The children had dinner and dinner conversation more frequently with their mother than with their father. With father attendance, girls and boys had the same frequency of dinner and dinner conversation, although, with mother attendance, girls had dinner conversation more frequently than boys. Most of the children felt happy when they had dinner with their parents. However, a lower percentage of children felt happy when having dinner conversation with their parents, thought that they were important to their parents and thought dinner conversation was useful. More children felt happy during dinner and dinner conversation with their mother than with their father. However, there was no perceived difference in the usefulness of the conversation based on the father or the mother attending. The contents of conversation were greatly affected by which parent was attending. Subjects concerning children's manners were talked about more frequently in conversation with mothers than with fathers. Children had more frequent conversations with their father about ‘social issues’ and the ‘parents’ surroundings’ than with their mother. Girls had more frequent conversations on a wider variety of subjects with their mothers than boys. Girls could more easily share in their mothers’ knowledge or sense of values through dinner conversation. Boys were, for the most part, excluded from this process in conversation with either parent.