Broadening the understanding of injury prevention: a case study

The death or injury of a loved one is tragic, especially if that injury could have been prevented. Programs to reduce the incidence and severity of neurological trauma are traditionally driven by injury statistics, and the literature on neurological injury prevention often fails to capture individual experiences. Understanding community members' concerns about injury and safety efforts can move injury-prevention programs to a new level by assessing injury-related beliefs and refining interventions suited to the community. Pediatric injury is an especially complex problem that is influenced by developmental, environmental, sociopolitical, economic, geographic, parental, and child-related factors. Recognition of injury as a public health concern supports updating program development. The following case study, based on an in-depth parent interview, offers a unique perspective on pediatric injury. The audiotaped interview was transcribed verbatim following qualitative guidelines. Three main themes emerged from the analysis: (a) sources of parental concern for children's safety, (b) private versus public safety influences, and (c) behaviors making children vulnerable to injury. As this case study illustrates, parents may consider children susceptible to injury as a result of factors often not considered by injury prevention programs, for example, being "injury prone." Parents also have access to resources, grandparents, for example, not typically considered when programs are marketed. The challenge is to identify how programs become an accepted public safety influence and to address real-life parental concerns.