Socioeconomic status and the prevention of child home injuries: a survey of parents of preschool children.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the effect of socioeconomic status on the attitudes parents of preschool children towards child home safety issues and practice of home safety measures.

SETTING

A community based study in the Lanarkshire Health Board area, a mixed urban-rural setting in central Scotland.

METHODS

A postal survey of two random samples of parents of preschool children (aged 3 years). One sample (A) involved parents living in more affluent areas and the other (B) parents living in less affluent areas.

RESULTS

In general, parents in both groups showed similar attitudes towards home safety. The only significant differences to emerge were over parental perceptions of the safety of the neighbourhood in which they lived and over the availability of money to keep their child safe (group B > group A, p < 0.0042). Parents from group B also tended to report similar or safer levels of home safety behaviour to parents from group A.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings do not suggest that differences in the injury experience of children from more and less affluent backgrounds are due to differences in parental attitude, knowledge, or practice of home safety measures. Thus, the study does not support the selective targeting of families from less affluent areas with educational interventions. Instead, the findings do support the use of a multi-method approach to home safety, where educational approaches are complemented by environmental modification.