title: Parental perceptions of barriers and facilitators to preventing child unintentional injuries within the home: a qualitative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Childhood unintentional injury represents an important global health problem. Most of these injuries occur at home, and many are preventable. The main aim of this study was to identify key facilitators and barriers for parents in keeping their children safe from unintentional injury within their homes. A further aim was to develop an understanding of parents' perceptions of what might help them to implement injury prevention activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with sixty-four parents with a child aged less than five years at parent's homes. Interview data was transcribed verbatim, and thematic analysis was undertaken. This was a Multi-centre qualitative study conducted in four study centres in England (Nottingham, Bristol, Norwich and Newcastle).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Barriers to injury prevention included parents' not anticipating injury risks nor the consequences of some risk-taking behaviours, a perception that some injuries were an inevitable part of child development, interrupted supervision due to distractions, maternal fatigue and the presence of older siblings, difficulties in adapting homes, unreliability and cost of safety equipment and provision of safety information later than needed in relation to child age and development. Facilitators for injury prevention included parental supervision and teaching children about injury risks. This included parents' allowing children to learn about injury risks through controlled risk taking, using "safety rules" and supervising children to ensure that safety rules were adhered to. Adapting the home by installing safety equipment or removing hazards were also key facilitators. Some parents felt that learning about injury events through other parents' experiences may help parents anticipate injury risks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are a range of barriers to, and facilitators for parents undertaking injury prevention that would be addressable during the design of home safety interventions. Addressing these in future studies may increase the effectiveness of interventions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. joanne.ablewhite@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ablewhite
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK. isabel.peel@nuh.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Peel
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research & Trials Unit, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS, Foundation Trust, Norwich, NR4 7UY, UK. L.Mcdaid@uea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McDaid
authors.affiliation: The Great North Children's Hospital, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 4LP, UK. adrian.hawkins@nuth.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, BS16 1QY, UK. Trudy.Goodenough@uwe.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Trudy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goodenough
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, BS16 1QY, UK. toity.deave@uwe.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Toity
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deave
authors.affiliation: Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. J.Stewart@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. denise.kendrick@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kendrick
mesh_terms: D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012449:Safety; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*