Teaching poison prevention to preschool children, their parents, and professional educators through child care centers.

A PROGRAM TO TEACH POISON PREVENTION TO PRESCHOOL CHILDREN IN DAY CARE CENTERS WAS DESIGNED TO TEACH THREE BASIC CONCEPTS: where poison is, what poison is, and how to avoid poison. A series of ten slide-cassette presentations and numerous teaching aids were developed for use by the day care center instructor to the children. Over 3,000 children were enrolled in the program. Evaluation shows that poison prevention education can be demonstrated in children less than five years of age. (Am J Public Health 1981;71:750-752.)

Syrup of ipecac awareness: the use of a survey to direct future education efforts.

Syrup of ipecac awareness has been a major educational endeavor of our poison center for nearly 15 years. Educational efforts have been widespread and not directed specifically at any demographic population. A telephone survey was developed to determine our effectiveness in creating awareness and to identify demographic trends which would direct our future efforts. Respondents were randomly selected from the metropolitan telephone directory. Four hundred surveys were completed. The data was analyzed for statistical significance using chi square. The demographic background of the respondents compared favorably with that published by the Census Bureau. Fifty and six tenths percent were aware of syrup of ipecac. Age groups between 30-59 were more aware of ipecac than younger or older groups. Females were more aware of ipecac than males (37% vs 2%). There was a direct relationship between the number of years of education and ipecac awareness (college 62%, high school 49%, non-high school 37%). Married and divorced respondents had a higher awareness than single individuals (56% vs 38%). Respondents with working spouses had greater awareness than those with unemployed spouses (65% vs 43%). Twenty-four percent claimed to have ipecac in their home at the time of the survey. This provides significant insight for future direction with our educational efforts.

The use of a scientific survey to direct poison center activities.

To develop a strategy for the development and implementation of future poison center services and prevention education activities, a telephone survey was conducted within the greater metropolitan region. The survey consisted of 58 questions developed to research information in 5 broad categories of consumer awareness of: poisoning accidents and their sources; Mr Yuk and the poison center; consumer response to poisonings; and education. The questionnaire was pretested and then conducted by experienced interviewers. Four hundred interviews were conducted over 12 consecutive days between the hours of 9:00 am and 8:00 pm to accomodate both working men and women. Respondents with a college education had significantly greater awareness of the poison center and Mr Yuk. Sixteen and 6/10 percent of the respondents had actually used the poison center. Homes with parents working outside of the home had a higher incidence of poisoning exposures. Respondents under 50 years of age had a significantly higher awareness of the poison center than those older than 50 (48% vs 27%). Furthermore, more respondents living in households of four or more knew about the poison center compared to smaller households (50% vs 36%). Only 5.5% of the respondents used the Mr Yuk sticker to obtain the telephone number of the poison center. Awareness of the poison center was 89.8%.