School-injury determinants and characteristics: developing an investigation instrument from a literature review.

The school constitutes an environment of public-health concern since it is the location of occurrence of a major proportion of injuries sustained by children. This paper reviews a total of 42 empirical studies dealing with the determinants and characteristics of injuries to school pupils. On the basis of the review, a proposal is made for a specialized instrument (SIIR) dedicated to the analysis and registration of injuries and incidents at school. It addresses the 'who?', 'where?', and 'what?' questions usually posed in traditional instruments for injury surveillance but places far greater emphasis on the 'how?' and 'why?' questions of injury. SIIR enables the injury phenomenon to be subjected to greater scrutiny, and is designed to support preventive work at school level. For one school-year, it is also being employed for the creation of a data register for research and development purposes.

The physical and psychosocial environments in Swedish schools: quality aspects and relations to pupil-injury determinants as perceived by school principals.

The study investigated relations between the quality of the physical and psychosocial environments in Swedish schools and pupil-injury determinants as perceived by school principals. Data came from a representative sample of public-sector Swedish schools. Schools were divided into four classes on the basis of the types and magnitudes of environmental problems they experienced. Associations between problems and type of school, type of district, and degree of importance attributed to various pupil-injury determinants were measured. Two schools in three were classified as having no environmental problems, and one in 20 as having both types. Significant associations were found between type of problem (environmental load), type of district and perceptions of some injury-inducing factors. Improvements to the school environment may benefit pupils' education and development as well as their safety and well-being. The study provides an aid for the setting of priorities in these respects.

Violence in the Swedish school environment: extent of the problem and its manifestations.

The current importance of school violence due to its recent increase, and also its association with school-specific psychosocial and physical environmental problems were considered as part of a recent survey of Swedish public-sector schools. The responses of the principals of a representative sample of schools (68.4% response rate) revealed that, for the school year 1995-1996, violence was a problem regarded as 'moderate' or 'large' in 15% of schools, 'small' in 62%, and as 'non-significant' in 20%. There has been a non-uniform trend in perceptions of violence across types of schools and municipalities since 1990. Schools where violence has been a problem for some time were more likely to express dissatisfaction with the psychosocial and physical environment of the school, and to emphasize individual and adult-supervision factors as injury determinants. Prevention of intentional injuries requires a variety of interventions, adapted according to factors associated with the problem at local level.