From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Injury prevention
Injury prevention
Injury prevention are efforts to prevent or reduce the
severity of bodily injuries caused by external mecha-
Common types of injury pre-
nisms, such as accidents, before they occur. Injury pre- vention
vention is a component of safety and public health, and
its goal is to improve the health of the population by Traffic and automobile safety
preventing injuries and hence improving quality of life.
Traffic safety and automobile safety are a major compo-
Among laypersons, the term "accidental injury" is often
nent of injury prevention because it is the leading cause
used. However, "accidental" implies the causes of injuries
of death for children and young adults into their mid 30’s.
are random in nature.[citation needed]. Researchers use the
Injury prevention efforts began in the early 1960s when
term "unintentional injury" to refer to injuries that are
activist Ralph Nader, exposed the automobiles as being
nonvolitional but preventable. Within the field of public
more dangerous than necessary with his book Unsafe at
health, efforts are also made to prevent or reduce "in-
Any Speed. This led to engineering changes in the way
tentional injury." Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease
cars are designed to allow for more crush space between
Control, for example, show unintentional injuries are the
the vehicle and the occupant.
leading cause of death from early childhood until middle
Engineering:
Engineering vehicle crash worthiness, seat belts,
adulthood. During these years, unintentional injuries ac-
airbags, locking seat belts for child seats.
count for more deaths than the next nine leading causes
Education:
Education promote seat belt use, discourage im-
of death combined.
paired driving, promote child safety seats.
Injury prevention strategies cover a variety of ap-
enactment:
Enforcement and enactment passage and enforce-
proaches, many of which are classified as falling under
ment of primary seat belt laws, speed limits, impaired
the “3 E’s” of injury prevention: education, engineering
driving enforcement.
modifications, and enforcement/enactment. Some orga-
nizations, such as Safe Kids Worldwide, have expanded
the list to six E’s adding: evaluation, economic incentives
Pedestrian safety
and empowerment. Pedestrian safety is the focus of both epidemiological and
psychological injury prevention research. Epidemiologi-
cal studies typically focus on causes external to the in-
Measuring effectiveness dividual such as traffic density, access to safe walking
Research in injury prevention is challenging, because the areas, socioeconomic status, injury rates, legislation for
usual outcome of interest is deaths or injuries prevented, safety (e.g., traffic fines), or even the shape of vehicles
and it is nearly impossible to measure how many people which affects the severity of injuries resulting from a
did not get hurt who otherwise would have. Education collision. Epidemiological data show children aged 1–4
efforts can be measured by changes in knowledge, atti- are at greatest risk for injury in driveway and sidewalks.
tudes, beliefs and behaviors, before and after the inter- Children aged 5–14 are at greatest risk while attempting
vention, however tying these changes back into reduc- to cross streets.
tions in morbidity and mortality is often problematic. The body of psychological research on pedestrian
Examining trends in morbidity and mortality in the safety is currently much smaller than that in the epi-
population is usually not difficult and may provide some demiological field, but is rapidly growing. Psychological
indication of the effectiveness of injury prevention inter- pedestrian safety studies extend as far back as the
ventions. However, this approach suffers from the poten- mid-1980s when researchers began examining behavio-
tial of ecological fallacy, where the data shows an associ- ral variables in children. Behavioral variables of interest
ation between an intervention and a change in the out- include selection of crossing gaps in traffic, attention to
come, but there is actually no causal relationship. traffic, the number of near hits or actual hits, or the
routes children chose when crossing multiple streets
such as while walking to school. Behavioral studies often
collect such variables which imply risk of injury; e.g.,
children engaging in risky behaviors may be assumed
to be at greater risk if actually crossing a street alone.
The most common technique used in behavioral pedes-
trian research is the pretend road, in which a child stands
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Injury prevention
some distance from the curb and watches traffic on the • Journal of Injury and Violence Research
real road. The child then walks to the edge of the street • Injury Prevention
when a crossing opportunity is chosen. Research is grad- • International Journal of Injury Control and Safety
ually shifting to more ecologically valid virtual reality Promotion
techniques. Leading scientists in psychological pedestri- • Journal of Safety Research
an safety research are Dr. Benjamin Barton, Dr. David • Journal of Trauma
Schwebel and Dr. James Thomson. • Safety Science
• Traffic Injury Prevention
Other • Transportation Research: Traffic Psychology and
The following is an abbreviated topic list of some com- Behavior
mon focus areas of injury prevention efforts:
• Bicycle safety See also
• Boat and water safety
• Child passenger safety • U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Consumer product safety • Haddon Matrix
• Firearm safety • Home Safety Council
• Fire and burn safety • National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Home safety • National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Impaired driving
• Pedestrian safety References
• Poison control
• Toy safety
• Traffic safety External links
• Sports injury safety • Safe Kids Worldwide
• Workplace safety • After the Injury- Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia
Recommended reading (re-
search journals)
• Accident Analysis and Prevention
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Injury_prevention&oldid=457441717"
Categories:
• Public health
• Biostatistics
• Health economics
• Sociology
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