Jane Stewart

Risk Watch: cluster randomised controlled trial evaluating an injury prevention program.

Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based injury prevention program. Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial. Setting: 20 primary schools in Nottingham, UK. Participants: 459 children aged 7 to 10 years. Intervention: The “Risk Watch” program delivered by teachers, aimed at improving bike and pedestrian, falls, poisoning and fire and burns safety. Main outcome measures: Safety knowledge, observed safety skills and self-reported safety behaviour. Results: At follow-up, intervention group children correctly answered more fire and burn prevention knowledge questions than control group children (difference between means 7.0% (95% CI 1.5% to12.6%)). Children in intervention group schools were more likely to know the correct actions to take if clothes catch fire and the correct way to wear a cycle helmet (difference between school means 35.3% (95% CI 22.7% to 47.9%) and 6.3% (95% CI 1.4% to 11.1%) respectively). They were also more likely to know the correct actions to take in a house fire and on finding tablets (OR 2.80 (95% CI 1.08 to 7.22) and OR 3.50 (95% CI 1.18 to 10.38) respectively) and correctly demonstrated more safety skills than control group children (difference between means 11.9% (95% CI 1.4% to 22.5%)). There was little evidence to suggest the first year of the program impacted on self-reported safety behaviours. Conclusions: The Risk Watch program delivered by teachers in primary schools increased some aspects of children’s safety knowledge and skills and primary schools should consider delivering this program. Longer term, larger scale evaluations are required to examine retention of knowledge and skills and impact on safety behaviours and child injury rates.

Inequalities in glycaemic control in patients with Type 2 diabetes in primary care

Aims  To quantify relationships between patient and practice factors and glycaemic control in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Parental perceptions of barriers and facilitators to preventing child unintentional injuries within the home: a qualitative study

BackgroundChildhood unintentional injury represents an important global health problem. Most of these injuries occur at home, and many are preventable. The main aim of this study was to identify key facilitators and barriers for parents in keeping their children safe from unintentional injury within their homes. A further aim was to develop an understanding of parents’ perceptions of what might help them to implement injury prevention activities.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with sixty-four parents with a child aged less than five years at parent’s homes. Interview data was transcribed verbatim, and thematic analysis was undertaken. This was a Multi-centre qualitative study conducted in four study centres in England (Nottingham, Bristol, Norwich and Newcastle).ResultsBarriers to injury prevention included parents’ not anticipating injury risks nor the consequences of some risk-taking behaviours, a perception that some injuries were an inevitable part of child development, interrupted supervision due to distractions, maternal fatigue and the presence of older siblings, difficulties in adapting homes, unreliability and cost of safety equipment and provision of safety information later than needed in relation to child age and development. Facilitators for injury prevention included parental supervision and teaching children about injury risks. This included parents’ allowing children to learn about injury risks through controlled risk taking, using “safety rules” and supervising children to ensure that safety rules were adhered to. Adapting the home by installing safety equipment or removing hazards were also key facilitators. Some parents felt that learning about injury events through other parents’ experiences may help parents anticipate injury risks.ConclusionsThere are a range of barriers to, and facilitators for parents undertaking injury prevention that would be addressable during the design of home safety interventions. Addressing these in future studies may increase the effectiveness of interventions.

Randomised controlled trial of thermostatic mixer valves in reducing bath hot tap water temperature in families with young children in social housing

Objectives To assess the effectiveness of thermostatic mixing valves (TMVs) in reducing bath hot tap water temperature, assess acceptability of TMVs to families and impact on bath time safety practices. Design Pragmatic parallel arm randomised controlled trial. Setting A social housing organisation in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Participants 124 families with at least one child under 5 years. Intervention A TMV fitted by a qualified plumber and educational leaflets before and at the time of TMV fitting. Main outcome measures Bath hot tap water temperature at 3-month and 12-month post-intervention or randomisation, acceptability, problems with TMVs and bath time safety practices. Results Intervention arm families had a significantly lower bath hot water temperature at 3-month and 12-month follow-up than families in the control arm (3 months: intervention arm median 45.0°C, control arm median 56.0°C, difference between medians, −11.0, 95% CI −14.3 to −7.7); 12 months: intervention arm median 46.0°C, control arm median 55.0°C, difference between medians −9.0, 95% CI −11.8 to −6.2) They were significantly more likely to be happy or very happy with their bath hot water temperature (RR 1.43, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.93), significantly less likely to report the temperature as being too hot (RR 0.33, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.68) and significantly less likely to report checking the temperature of every bath (RR 0.84, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.97). Seven (15%) intervention arm families reported problems with their TMV. Conclusions TMVs and accompanying educational leaflets are effective at reducing bath hot tap water temperatures in the short and longer term and are acceptable to families. Housing providers should consider fitting TMVs in their properties and legislators should consider mandating their use in refurbishments as well as in new builds.

Setting and negotiating targets in people with Type 2 diabetes in primary care J. Stewart & D. Kendrick

Aims  To investigate the provision of diabetes care, the frequency of practices setting targets for their diabetic population, the targets set and the frequency of targets being negotiated with people with diabetes.

Keeping children safe at home: protocol for three matched case–control studies of modifiable risk factors for falls

Background Childhood falls result in considerable morbidity, mortality and health service use. Despite this, little evidence exists on protective factors or effective falls prevention interventions in young children. Objectives To estimate ORs for three types of medically attended fall injuries in young children in relation to safety equipment, safety behaviours and hazard reduction and explore differential effects by child and family factors and injury severity. Design Three multicentre case–control studies in UK hospitals with validation of parental reported exposures using home observations. Cases are aged 0–4 years with a medically attended fall injury occurring at home, matched on age and sex with community controls. Children attending hospital for other types of injury will serve as unmatched hospital controls. Matched analyses will use conditional logistic regression to adjust for potential confounding variables. Unmatched analyses will use unconditional logistic regression, adjusted for age, sex, deprivation and distance from hospital in addition to other confounders. Each study requires 496 cases and 1984 controls to detect an OR of 0.7, with 80% power, 5% significance level, a correlation between cases and controls of 0.1 and a range of exposure prevalences. Main outcome measures Falls on stairs, on one level and from furniture. Discussion As the largest in the field to date, these case control studies will adjust for potential confounders, validate measures of exposure and investigate modifiable risk factors for specific falls injury mechanisms. Findings should enhance the evidence base for falls prevention for young children.

Preventing bath water scalds: a cost-effectiveness analysis of introducing bath thermostatic mixer valves in social housing

Aims To assess the cost-effectiveness of installing thermostatic mixer valves (TMVs) in reducing risks of bath water scalds and estimate the costs of avoiding bath water scalds. Methods The evaluation was undertaken from the perspective of the UK public sector, and conducted in conjunction with a randomised control trial of TMVs installed in social housing in Glasgow. Installation costs were borne by the social housing organisation, while support materials were provided by the UK NHS. Effectiveness was represented by the number of families with at-risk bath water temperatures pre- and post-installation, and the number of bath scalds avoided as a result of installation. Differences in the number of families with at-risk temperatures between groups were derived from the RCT. Cost-effectiveness was assessed and a series of one-way sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results Unit costs associated with installation were calculated to be £13.68, while costs associated with treating bath water scalds ranged from £25 226 to £71 902. The cost of an avoided bath water scald ranged from net savings to public purse of £1887 to £75 520 and at baseline produced a net saving of £3 229 008; that is, £1.41 saved for every £1 spent. Conclusion It is very likely that installing TMVs as standard in social housing in new buildings and major refurbishments accompanied by educational information represents value for money. Trial registration number ISRCTN:21179067.

National survey of the injury prevention activities of children's centres.

Childrens centres were established across England to provide a range of services including early education, social care and health to pre-school children and their families. We surveyed childrens centres to ascertain the activities they were undertaking to prevent unintentional injuries in the under fives. A postal questionnaire was sent to a sample of childrens centre managers (n = 694). It included questions on current activities, knowledge and attitudes to injury prevention, health priorities and partnership working. Responses were received from 384 (56%) childrens centres. Overall, 58% considered unintentional injury prevention to be one of the three main child health priorities for their centre. Over half the respondents (59%) did not know if there was an injury prevention group in their area, and 21% did not know if there was a home safety equipment scheme. Knowledge of how child injury deaths occur in the home was poor. Only 11% knew the major cause of injury deaths in children under five. Lack of both staff time and funding were seen as important barriers by childrens centre staff to undertake injury prevention activities. Nearly all stated that training (97%) and assistance with planning injury prevention (94%) would be helpful to their centres. Childrens centres need further support if they are to effectively tackle this important public health area.

Keeping children safe at home: protocol for a case–control study of modifiable risk factors for scalds

Background Scalds are one of the most common forms of thermal injury in young children worldwide. Childhood scald injuries, which mostly occur in the home, result in substantial health service use and considerable morbidity and mortality. There is little research on effective interventions to prevent scald injuries in young children. Objectives To determine the relationship between a range of modifiable risk factors for medically attended scalds in children under the age of 5 years. Design A multicentre case-control study in UK hospitals and minor injury units with parallel home observation to validate parental reported exposures. Cases will be 0–4 years old with a medically attended scald injury which occurred in their home or garden, matched on gender and age with community controls. An additional control group will comprise unmatched hospital controls drawn from children aged 0–4 years attending the same hospitals and minor injury units for other types of injury. Conditional logistic regression will be used for the analysis of cases and matched controls, and unconditional logistic regression for the analysis of cases and unmatched controls to estimate ORs and 95% CI, adjusted and unadjusted for confounding variables. Main exposure measures Use of safety equipment and safety practices for scald prevention and scald hazards. Discussion This large case-control study will investigate modifiable risk factors for scalds injuries, adjust for potential confounders and validate measures of exposure. Its findings will enhance the evidence base for prevention of scalds injuries in young children.

Keeping children safe at home: protocol for a matched case-control study of modifiable risk factors for poisoning

Background Childhood unintentional and suspected poisonings are a serious public health problem. Evidence from systematic reviews demonstrates that home safety education in combination with safety equipment provision increases the safe storage of medicines and other products. There is lack of evidence that poisoning prevention practices reduce poisoning rates. Objectives To estimate ORs for medically attended poisonings in children aged 0–4 years for items of safety equipment, home hazards and parental safety practices aimed at preventing poisoning, and to explore differential effects by child and family factors. Design Multicentre case-control study in UK hospitals with validation of parent-reported exposures using home observations. Cases are aged 0–4 years with a medically attended poisoning occurring at home, matched on age and sex with community controls. Children attending hospital for other types of injury will serve as unmatched hospital controls. Matched analyses will use conditional logistic regression; unmatched analyses will use unconditional logistic regression to adjust for confounding variables. The study requires 266 poisoning cases and 1064 matched controls to detect an OR of 0.64 for safe storage of medicinal products and of 0.65 for non-medicinal products, with 80% power, a 5% significance level and a correlation between exposures in cases and controls of 0.1. Main outcome measures Unintentional childhood poisoning. Discussion This will be the largest study to date exploring modifiable risk factors for poisoning in young children. Findings will inform: policy makers developing poison prevention strategies, practitioners delivering poison prevention interventions, parents to reduce the risk of poisoning in their homes.