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Updated: Oct 4, 2025
Design and Analysis for Fall Detection System Simplification
Published on: April 6, 2020
Predictors of parent's knowledge of hospital-based pediatric falls
Suzanne Sheppard-Law1,2, Frances Brogan2, Frances Usherwood3
1Faculty of Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Insights
A new questionnaire validated parents' knowledge of pediatric falls in hospitals. Australian-born parents and those with high-risk children showed better understanding of hospital falls prevention.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nursing
- Patient Safety
- Health Education
Background:
- Hospital-acquired pediatric falls pose a significant risk to child patients.
- Assessing parental understanding of these risks is crucial for effective prevention strategies.
- Existing tools for measuring parental falls knowledge in pediatric settings are limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate the Parent Knowledge of Falls (PKOF) questionnaire for assessing parental understanding of pediatric falls in hospitals.
- To identify demographic factors associated with parents' knowledge of hospital-based pediatric falls.
- To pinpoint parent populations at higher risk for low falls-related knowledge.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional survey design was employed, involving 200 parents of hospitalized children in an Australian tertiary pediatric hospital.
- The Parent Knowledge of Falls (PKOF) questionnaire, comprising 23 items across five domains, was validated using factor analyses and reliability tests.
- Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified factors associated with parents' falls knowledge.
Main Results:
- The validated PKOF questionnaire demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's α = .929–.70).
- Parents' knowledge scores ranged from 2.5 to 4.5, with the lowest scores related to falls during parental presence.
- Higher falls knowledge was associated with having a child at high risk for falls (OR: 2.1) and being Australian-born (OR: 1.9).
Conclusions:
- The PKOF questionnaire is a reliable and evidence-based instrument for assessing parental knowledge of pediatric falls in hospital settings.
- Identified knowledge gaps and at-risk parent groups can inform targeted falls prevention education.
- Pediatric nurses and educators can utilize the PKOF to consistently measure and improve falls education effectiveness.
Purpose:
This study aimed to validate and to determine the individual characteristics and demographic factors associated with parents' knowledge of hospital-based pediatric falls and to identify parent populations more likely to report low levels of falls-related knowledge.
Design:
Validation of a questionnaire and a cross-sectional survey design.
Methods:
Parents (n = 200) of hospitalized children admitted to a tertiary specialist pediatric hospital in Australia completed an online questionnaire. Parents were asked to rate their hospital-based falls knowledge using a Likert scale (1-5). The questionnaire was administered to parents across six hospital wards, 1 day a week, from May to August 2019. Validation of the questionnaire involved factor analyses and reliability tests. Finally, descriptive analysis measured parents' knowledge, and a multivariate logistic regression analysis reported factors associated with parents' falls knowledge. All data were analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (V27). Ethical approval was received for all stages.
Results:
The final version of the parent knowledge of falls (PKOF) questionnaire consisted of 23 questions across five domains (Cronbach α = .929-.70). Parents' knowledge of hospital-based falls ranged from 2.5 to 4.5, while knowledge that children may fall during parental presence rated the lowest score. Knowledge of inpatient falls was higher if their child had a high risk of falls (odds ratio [OR]: 2.1, p = .04) and they were Australian-born parents (OR: 1.9, p = .05).
Practice Implications:
The PKOF questionnaire is an evidence-based instrument developed for a pediatric hospital setting. Findings highlight knowledge gaps and parent groups with the highest risk of having inadequate hospital-based falls knowledge. The questionnaire enables pediatric nurses and educators to measure parents' knowledge of hospital-based falls accurately and consistently, and so to identify gaps and, subsequently, develop, implement, and evaluate falls education using an evidence-based approach.
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