Author(s): Alves, Tatiana ; Papadakaki, Maria ; Silva, Susana ; Braz, Paula ; Vagionaki, K.
Date: 2023
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/8836
Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Nacional de Saúde
Subject(s): Children; Injury; Knowledge and Attitudes; Parents and Caregivers; Accidents; Observação em Saúde e Vigilância; Estados de Saúde e de Doença
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. For children the majority of these injuries occur in or around the home when their safety is the responsibility of a parent or other caregiver. There has been considerable speculation that inadequate supervision may be an important contributing factor for understanding childhood injuries. Research indicates that inadequate supervision is the most common preventable factor that leads to death. Evidence linking supervision directly to child injury risk, however, has proven difficult to obtain, largely because of the methodological challenges in measuring supervision. 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, without external funding, developed at European level within the scope of the Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion Section of the European Public Health Association. The information was collected by survey, from parents' associations and schools in the EU countries represented in the EUPHA INJ Section. A well-structured questionnaire was developed which was constituted by questions regarding parents and, or, caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes and risk perception towards prevention of unintentional injuries in children aged up to 14 years 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. 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 freelance worker or trader were those who most considered that injuries have a big impact on children (95,0% - mother; 84,7% - father). Also the fathers employee were the major group that considered injuries can be preventable (93,4%), 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.
