Uncovering evidence on community-based injury prevention: A review of programme effectiveness and factors influencing effectiveness

This study examines systematic reviews of community-based injury prevention programmes to obtain an overview of the evidence base on the effectiveness of these programmes and to analyse how effectiveness is measured and the extent to which factors contributing to achieving programme effectiveness are examined in these reviews. Thirteen systematic reviews were found, encompassing a total of 121 programmes. The results reinforced the well-documented point that the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based injury prevention programmes is inconsistent. Some of the programmes targeting specific injury categories, e.g. specific injury types and/or age groups, were successful, whilst more broadly targeted programmes demonstrated less convincing results. Effectiveness was predominantly measured as injury rate reductions. Only one of the reviews identified contextual factors that could have impacted on programme effectiveness. To advance the field, researchers and systematic reviews need to include evidence on factors that may explain how the effects were achieved.