A narrative synthesis of childhood injury prevention programs for pre-school children

Abstract

Childhood injury is the leading cause of death and ongoing disability worldwide. While a cornerstone of injury prevention is education, current injury surveillance data is insufficiently nuanced to inform judgement of their effectiveness. A subsequent dearth of research evidence in the domain of childhood injury means that debate continues in regard to the most appropriate age or developmental stage of the child, as well as the most effective pedagogical approach. When considered together these issues culminate in programs that risk being inadequately targeted that are unable to justify their success in reducing injury and consequently are not sustainable. This paper reports the outcomes of a narrative synthesis approach to the review of literature in the area if childhood injury prevention programs targeted at pre-school children. Three studies met the inclusion criteria. The included studies were of poor quality and lacked convincing evidence of effectiveness due to the methods of evaluation, which in turn have shown to impact on the overall sustainability of each specific program. This paper culminates in recognition that there is insufficient evidence of the effectiveness of childhood injury prevention programs for pre-school children, requiring further high-quality studies to determine their overall effectiveness and longer-term sustainability.