Knowledge and attitudes towards childhood injury prevention: a study of parents in Shanghai, China

Childhood injuries are a major problem worldwide. The study explored the parents' knowledge and attitudes towards childhood injury prevention in relation to theirsocioeconomic status. The study also tried to compare parents' perceptions of cause and place of child injury with actual cause and place of injury. This was a cross sectional study of 986 randomly selected parents whose children (3-6 years old) were enrolled at selected kindergartens in a 'Safe Community' in Shanghai, China. Chi-square tests and bar diagrams were used. Almost all parents (97%) thought that injury was a serious problem for their children. Around half of the parents thought that child injuries could be prevented while almost one-third (29%) of parents indicated that there were risk factors in the living environment of their children. Parental perceptions of cause of injuries and place of injuries significantly differed from that of the reality. Parents identified the most common barriers of childhood injury prevention: lack of parental attention (41.6%), environment (35.6%) and children's risky behavior (22.7%). The difference between parental opinions and reality illustrated that parents had incorrect knowledge of childhood injuries, which might lead to incorrect foci of prevention programs. Before tackling environmental modifications to prevent child injuries, policy makers should focus on rectifying parents' incorrect perceptions and on modifying their attitudes as key players. It is important to first raise awareness about childhood injury prevention among the parents for appropriate intervention strategies.