Implementazione e valutazione di un progetto per la prevenzione degli incidenti domestici in bambini dai 3 ai 6 anni

OBJECTIVES In western countries, domestic injuries represent the primary cause for children’s death and the cause of 20% of pediatric patients’ hospital admissions. The Italian Health Minister has inserted in the National Prevention Plan 2005-2007 a line of action to improve security at home. In 2011, a specific project of prevention (named La valigia di Affy Fiutapericolo) was developed for nursery schools, involving also teachers. The project was aimed at increasing the children’s awareness on risks they encounter in the domestic environment and to facilitate reflection on the actions that children themselves could accomplish to prevent domestic injuries. The project was funded by the Center for Diseases Control, and the following Regions participated: Piemonte (coordinator), Valle d’Aosta, Veneto, Campania and Sicilia. After an experimental phase, the project was proposed to all the nursery schools of Novara and surroundings and 16 participated. At the end of the preventive intervention, a research was designed to evaluate: children’s outcomes in terms of knowledge achievements on domestic injuries, and participants’ satisfaction with the project. METHODS Among the nursery schools that adhered to the project, 12 classes participated in the study, involving a total of 274 children. To evaluate youngsters’ knowledge achievements, drawings were utilized, in line with indications given by the literature on doing research with children. Satisfaction with the project was evaluated through an open ended questionnaire, filled out by teachers. RESULTS For the research purposes, 175 drawings resulted appropriate, and they were analyzed by two blind researchers, who individuated the subjects represented in the drawings. Falls, drowning, burns and cut injuries were the most represented, while electrocutions, poisonings, suffocations were less outlined, and differences in children at different ages were found. Referring to the environments in which injuries took place, garden, stairs and kitchen resulted the most represented. Questionnaires results show that children expressed high satisfaction with the assigned task. CONCLUSIONS Even if drawings have revealed as an excellent instrument for evaluating the children’s comprehension of the preventive messages on domestic injuries, they are not particularly detailed. In future studies, integrating drawings with other data, i.e. children’s focus groups facilitated by teachers, could be more effective. Furthermore, it would be useful to monitor incidence of domestic injuries in those areas in which the preventive intervention has been carried out, verifying if a lower mortality and fewer hospital admissions are registered, when compared to control groups.