Carter, Anthony, and Muller, Reinhold (2002) Practices, knowledge and perceptions influencing accident and injury in the Mackay/Whitsunday community. In: Muller, Reinhold, (ed.) Reducing Injuries in Mackay, North Queensland. Warwick Educational Publishing, Warwick, QLD, Australia, pp. 53-73.

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Abstract

Objective: To assess household injury prevention practices, knowledge and perception of injury risk factors and safety from the population of the Mackay Region as a base for the implementation of the Safe Communities project.

Methods: A standardised telephone survey was developed and administered to a random sample of 1,510 phone numbers in the Mackay Region during July/August 2000.

Results: A total of 461 completed questionnaires were obtained resulting in a second-stage response rate of 47.5%. The majority (54.7%) of study subjects complied with three or more household safety practices. The street (29.5%), the motor vehicle (47.9%) and the 16-29 years age group (71.6%) were perceived as the most likely location, factor and age group for injury in the region. In the survey, 87.7% of participants agreed that injuries resulting in people going to hospital are common, and 97.4% agreed that injuries can be prevented. Household safety practices were independent of the perception of the home as the most likely location of injury (p=0.39), home structures and furnishings as the most likely cause of injury (p=0.42), and injury as the most likely cause of people going to hospital in Mackay (p=0.50).

Conclusions: Household safety practices were independent of subjects’ knowledge of injury risk factors and perception of safety. Consequently, any successful injury prevention strategy cannot be restricted to increasing the knowledge of injury risk, but has rather to focus on the development of injury prevention skills while controlling at the same time the predisposing, reinforcing and enabling social, and environmental forces that influence injury prevention behaviour. These findings, in the context of the relatively high injury mortality and morbidity rates in the Mackay Region, indicate that the community will benefit from a specifically tailored and concerted community based injury prevention project.

Item ID:	14378
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN:	978-0-9579788-2-9
Keywords:	household injury prevention; injury prevention; risk factor analysis; safe communities project
Related URLs:	http://www.wepi.org/rimnq/pub.html
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2010 04:58
FoR Codes:	11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111711 Health Information Systems (incl Surveillance) @ 100%
SEO Codes:	92 HEALTH > 9202 Health and Support Services > 920205 Health Education and Promotion @ 100%
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