Risk factors of in-home unintentional injuries among 0-6-year-old children in Changsha city of China: a cross-sectional survey based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological system theory.

BACKGROUND: In-home unintentional injuries (IUIs) seriously threatened children's safety. Three factors, including risky behaviors, parental supervision, and home environmental risks, have been identified as major causes for IUIs. Studies considering the interrelations between the three were limited and no relative studies has been carried out among Chinese children. The purpose of this study is to fully explore the influences of behavioral, supervisory and environmental risk factors on IUIs and their associations among Chinese children on the bases of our self-developed scales. METHODS: Through stratified cluster sampling, a cross-sectional survey was conducted with 798 parents of children aged 0 ~ 6 years in Changsha, China. Social demographics and IUIs history in the past year were collected by self-administered questionnaires. Three IUI-related scales, which had been developed and validated by our team, aimed to measure risks from children behavior, parental supervision and in-home environment. Structural equation models were constructed to analyze the relationship of these factors and their influences on IUIs using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 22.0. RESULTS: Seven hundred ninety-eight parents were surveyed in total, and 33.58% of them reported with IUIs history of their children. X2/df, goodness-of-fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) and the root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) for the model of the whole children were 4.832, 0.879, 0.856 and 0.069 respectively, indicating an acceptable level of model fit. Direct influences were discovered between risky behaviors and children's IUIs. Home environmental risks indirectly exerted impacts on IUIs by the mediating effect of risky behaviors, while the significant effect of parental supervision only existed in children aged 4-6 and girls. CONCLUSIONS: Risky behaviors played a mediating role in IUIs among children. Supervision and environmental risks affected IUIs indirectly by the exposure to risky behaviors. Parental supervision may not be able to offset the risks posed by the environmental and behavioral factors, so effective IUIs prevention strategies should focus on behavioral and environmental interventions, with appropriate supervision strategies based on the age and sex characteristics of the child.

In-home environment and happiness among older adults in Thailand.

Background: The fact that housing can play a critical role in maintaining the health and independence related to happiness of the older population has been studied in more developed countries. However, research on the effect of housing conditions on happiness is rare in less developed countries. This study aimed to construct and test a structural equation model describing the structural relationship among personal aspects (living alone and physical disability), in-home environment (sleeping place and toilet/bathroom), and happiness among older adults in Thailand. Method: The data on the population age 75 years or over were extracted from the 2017 national Survey of Older Persons in Thailand (n = 7,829). Results: The median age of the sample population was 79. Almost 60 percent were women. The structural equation model showed a good fit with the data. Living alone did not directly influence happiness. Physical disability had a statistically significant negative direct effect on happiness. In-home environment not only had an impact on happiness directly, but also moderated the relationship between physical disability and happiness. Conclusion: The research suggested that interventions to improve happiness of older adults, particularly those with physical disability, should aim to adapt their housing, including sleeping place and toilet design.

Children Domestic Accidents Profile in Jazan Region, a call for new policies to improve safety of home environment.

High-frequency home accidents draw more attention to the protection of our home environment. WHO has reported that home deaths were among the first 20 causes of death in the 0-14 age group worldwide in 2012. This innovative research was designed to examine children under 15 years of age at home, in 2018 in the Jazan area of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected retrospectively from 19 hospitals in the Jazan area of southern Saudi Arabia during the period from September to December 2019. Data showed that, for the first time, the incidence rate of child home incidents in the Jazan area was 7.4 per 100 children in 2018. Falling, burning, swallowing foreign bodies, and domestic violence were among the most common types of injuries recorded. Home safety continued to be one of the main public health issues in the area with 29,812 home injuries in 1 year, 36.8% bone fractures, 31.6% body distortions, 9.2% distortion fractures and 5.3% child impairment. This study is a crucial step towards addressing the severity of home accidents in Saudi Arabia; troubling figures need further analysis, regular registry, informed policies and well-planned action to avoid these types of accidents.