Part II: mothers' knowledge and practices about childhood injuries in Alexandria

ABSTRACT

The protection of children from injury ultimately depends on the action of adults. Knowledge of risks of childhood injury does not ensure that parents will adequately protect their children, but such knowledge has been shown to be an essential precursor of changes in behavior. The present work was designed to assess mothers' knowledge and practices related to unintentional injuries among their children. A cross sectional study design was conducted at six randomly selected MCH centers from the six administrative districts of Alexandria. The total number of mothers was 311 selected using the proportional allocation method. A pre-designed questionnaire included sociodemographic data, 29 items to assess mothers' knowledge [23 items close ended and 6 items open ended], 29 items to assess mothers' practices related to injuries' risk factors and prevention in addition to items about mothers' opinion. The results demonstrated that 88% of mothers were knowledgeable about indoor risk factors, just above half [53.0%] recognized the family as a risk factor. More than one-fourth [28.9%] of mothers had a satisfactory level of knowledge, 58.9% had fair level and 12.2% had a poor level. Preventive outdoor safety practices were reported by the majority of mothers [85.2%]. Only 16.8% of mothers had good level of practice, 64.6% had average level and 18.7% had poor level. Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression revealed that mothers' educational level and age at birth of the first child were significant predictors of their knowledge about childhood injuries. As regards mothers' practices, only mothers' knowledge was the predictor of their practice towards injury prevention. Injury prevention training programs targeting parents focusing on increasing awareness of the scope of the problem and helping to build positive attitudes and behaviors related to childhood injuries are recommended