CHILDHOOD UNINTENTIONAL HOME INJURIES: CAREGIVER'S PERCEPTION AND PRACTICE IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS OF PLATEAU STATE,...

Unintentional home injuries (UHI) pose an enormous danger to a child's well-being; therefore, understanding the variations in caregiver approaches across different settings is invaluable for targeted prevention strategies. The study aimed to assess the knowledge, perception, and practice of caregivers on UHI in children under five years of age.

The comparative cross-sectional study design with a multistage random sampling technique was utilized to select 494 caregiver/child pairs, proportionate to size, from selected communities in both rural and urban areas of Plateau State. Quantitative data collected via ODK underwent cleaning and entry into SPSS version 26. The study objectives were assessed using SPSS for frequency and proportions. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, chi-square test and logistic regression, with a significance level set at p ≤0.05.

The youth age group represented 68.8% of urban caregivers compared to 57.1% of rural caregivers. In rural settings, 19.0% of respondents had low knowledge (<50th percentile), while in urban areas, only 2.8% fell into this category. Adequate knowledge (>50th percentile) was observed in 81.0% of rural respondents and 97.2% of urban respondents. The likelihood of UHI occurrence was approximately 8 times higher [8.057 (3.563 - 18.219) (p<0.001)] in rural areas with poor knowledge compared to urban areas with adequate knowledge. However, there was a statistically significant difference in UHI prevalence based on caregivers' knowledge was found between rural and urban respondents (p<0.001). When examining UHI cases, in rural areas, 98.5% of those with adequate knowledge experienced UHI, contrasting with 1.5% with poor knowledge. In urban areas, 71.2% of UHI cases occurred among those with adequate knowledge, while 28.8% had poor knowledge. Rural respondents demonstrated a higher proportion (53.4%) of poor fate belief compared to urban areas (40.9%), while good fate belief was lower among rural respondents (46.6%) compared to urban respondents (59.1%). In urban areas, the prevalence of UHI did not significantly differ based on caregivers' practices (p=0.827). In rural UHI cases, 22.0% had poor practices, and 78.0% had good practices, with no significant difference based on caregivers' practices (p=0.119). There was a significant difference in UHI based on parental/caregivers' practices (p=0.006), with 25.9% of rural and 15.8% of urban respondents having poor practices, and 74.1% of rural and 84.2% of urban respondents having good practices.

The study concludes that there are significant knowledge gaps among caregivers regarding unintentional home injuries (UHI) between rural and urban areas. Despite lower knowledge levels in rural settings, UHI rates are higher, underscoring the importance of knowledge in injury prevention. Variations in fate belief, parental protectiveness, and practices further contribute to differences in UHI occurrences.