The leisure environment: prevention of leisure injuries
| Author, date, and country | Injury target group and setting | Aims and content of intervention | Study type and sample size | Outcome measures | Key results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C = control; I = intervention. | |||||
| D'Argenio et al (1996),12 Italy | General population and focus on children 10–14 | “Capodanno Senza Danno” (New Year's without Harm!) Firework campaign and law enforcement | Before and after study. I = 18 emergency rooms | (A) Morbidity data—emergency room records. (B) Fireworks confiscated | (A) In 10–12 year olds rate of firework injuries dropped 51% from 46/100 000 to 22.3/100 000. (B) 12.5 million fireworks confiscated by police (82% more than previous year) InconclusiveReasonable/weak evidence |
| Malinowska-Cieslik and Borne (1998),13 Poland | 6–11 years. Schools and community | Multimethod mushroom poisoning prevention programme | Before and after study. I=693 children | (A) Mortality, morbidity (B) Knowledge | (A) Unspecified reductions in hospitalisations and mortality. (B) Knowledge levels increased Partially effectiveReasonable/weak evidence |
| Withaneachi and Meehan (1998),14 Australia | Primary school aged children. School | Educational intervention on playground safety standards in school playgrounds | Before and after study. No control. I pre-test=20 schools Post-test=19 schools | (A) Observed hazards in playground | (A) Improvements on most of safety standards Before 99/125 pieces of equipment met safety standard on fall height compared with 88/94 Partially effective/inconclusiveReasonable/weak evidence |
| Bennett et al (1999),15 USA | 1–14 years. Community based | Drowning prevention campaign, life vest loan programme, and bulk discount schemes | Before and after study without control group I1=(before) 332 I3=(after) 480 | Reported ownership and use of life vests | Reported ownership 69% before and 75% after campaign. Reported use increased from 20% to 29% EffectiveReasonable/weak evidence |
| Sibert et al (1999),16 Wales, UK | Children using public playgrounds | Environmental changes to playgrounds, depth of impact absorbing surfaces (bark) and changes to equipment | Controlled trial without randomisation. I=5 parks, C=18 parks (no changes) | (A) Injury rates (B) Number of fractures | In I, (A) Injury rate changed from 0.719 before to 0.297 after. In C, from 0.433 to 0.346 after (B) in I, fractures changed from 23 to 6. In C, from 12 to 10 Partially effectiveReasonable evidence |