RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Identifying predictors of medically-attended injuries to young children: do child or parent behavioural attributes matter?
JF Injury Prevention
JO Inj Prev
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 220
OP 225
DO 10.1136/ip.2008.019976
VO 15
IS 4
A1 B A Morrongiello
A1 M Corbett
A1 R J Brison
YR 2009
UL http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/15/4/220.abstract
AB Objective: To investigate whether one can differentiate injured and uninjured young children based on child behavioural attributes or indices of caregiver supervision.Method: A matched case–control design was used in which case participants were children presenting to an emergency department for treatment for an injury and age/sex matched control participants presented for illness-related reasons. During structured phone interviews about supervision parents reported on general supervisory practices (standardised questionnaire) and specific practices corresponding to time of injury (cases) or the last time their child engaged in the activity that incited their match’s injury (controls). Parents also reported on child behavioural attributes that have been linked to child risk taking in prior research (inhibitory control, sensation seeking).Results: Results revealed no group differences in child behavioural attributes; however, the control group received more supervision both in general (OR = 4.82, 95% CI 1.89 to 12.33) and during the specified activity that led to injury in cases (OR = 5.38, 95% CI 2.13 to 13.58).Conclusion: These findings confirm past speculation that caregiver supervision influences children’s risk of medically-attended injury and highlight the importance of targeting supervision in child-injury prevention interventions.