Classification of unintentional injury prevention practices for infants and young children at home: developmental process and associations with other variables in Japanese families

BackgroundInfants and young children often experience unintentional injuries at home, which are a significant public health concern worldwide. This study investigated the contents and types of accident prevention practices for unintentional injuries in families of infants and young children using a Japanese sample.MethodsA total of 875 mothers with children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years and 11 months participated in the online survey. Respondents answered items regarding specific strategies to prevent unintentional injuries at home, temperament, independence of life habits and their children's behaviors, and parenting attitudes. Measures to prevent unintentional injuries were examined using multiple correspondence analysis, and cluster analysis was performed on the sample scores extracted from the correspondence analysis. Data on children's temperament, life habits and behaviors, and mothers' child-rearing practices were analyzed using factor analysis and scored. Finally, multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted with the cluster classification of strategies to prevent unintentional injuries as the objective variable and other variables as explanatory variables.ResultsFrom the correspondence and subsequent cluster analyses, three clusters were extracted: the first cluster (n = 517) was the preventative group that kept objects that could lead to injuries away from children in advance; the second (n = 173) was the constantly restrictive group that explicitly prevented children from approaching or contacting dangerous places or objects; and the third cluster (n = 185) was the case-by-case restrictive group which was attentive to each effort to discourage children's contact with dangerous places. Cluster 1 was more common in the 0-year-old age group, Cluster 2 in the 1- and 2-year age groups, and Cluster 3 in the 4-6-year age groups. A multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that the more independent the children were regarding life habits and behaviors, the more likely they were to be classified in the second cluster, and the more parents had an encouraging attitude toward their children to take on challenges, the more likely they were to be classified in the third cluster.ConclusionThe results of this study confirmed the general process by which countermeasures against children's unintentional injuries at home proceed from (1) the phase in which parents protect their children by keeping potentially hazardous objects away from them. (2) The phase in which parents prevent unintentional injuries by blocking contact and accessing hazardous objects and places. (3) The phase in which parents open some hazardous environments to their children but simultaneously monitor their children's behavior and respond to prevent injuries on a case-by-case basis. The data also showed that child-related variables (self-reliance on children's life habits and behavior) and parent-related variables (mothers' child-rearing attitudes) were associated with the countermeasures taken by the parents.