Effect of a Childhood Burn Prevention Program on Knowledge Level of Caregivers and Burn Risk Factors

Prevention activities are very important in paediatric burns. More than 73% of burns occur at home. This study aimed to develop a Childhood Burn Prevention Program for caregivers of children with burns and to evaluate the effectiveness of the program for reducing burn risk factors for children at home as well as increasing the relevant knowledge of caregivers on burn prevention.

"Childhood Burn Prevention Program" was developed in the study. Within the scope of the program, caregivers were interviewed twice at home visits. At the first home visit, caregivers were trained in burn prevention and a poster including burn risk factors was put in their homes. In addition, the knowledge levels of caregivers about burns and risk factors in home settings were evaluated in the first and second home visits.

We found the total risk factor for burns in home settings was 28.94 ± 6.24 before the training and 14.68 ± 3.74 after the training (p < 0.05). In addition, the total number of correct answers given by the caregivers to the questions about burns before the training was 8.60 ± 2.62 and 11.71 ± 1.70 after the training (p < 0.05).

This Childhood Burn Prevention Program can be used to reduce risk factors for burns at home and to increase the relevant knowledge of caregivers of children.