Partnering for injury prevention: evaluation of a curriculum-based intervention program among elementary school children

Abstract

A randomized pretest and posttest comparative design was used to evaluate the outcome of implementing Think First for Kids (TFFK), an injury prevention program for children grades 1, 2, and 3, among intervention and controls schools. The study showed that children often lack basic knowledge regarding safety and do not recognize behaviors considered high risk for injury. By using multivariate analysis, the intervention children had a significantly greater increase in knowledge about the brain and spinal cord and safe behaviors to prevent traumatic injury, and a decrease in self-reported, high-risk behaviors (p < .001) when compared with control subjects, adjusting for the covariates gender, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity. African American and Hispanic children, although displaying the lowest test scores at baseline, had the largest absolute improvement in posttest scores. The TFKK prevention program addresses the leading causes of trauma among children including sports, motor vehicle crashes, falls, drowning, and pedestrian injuries.