Now that you have identified a particular safety issue affecting children in your school, book club or community, how can you intervene appropriately? Many times, this is where injury prevention efforts fail. It’s one to thing to know you need to implement an intervention and it’s another to implement an intervention that works.
Here are key points to consider:
1) Clarity on what the intervention aims to change e.g. to reduce bruises on the playground
2) Intervention must be evidence based to ensure effectiveness e.g. over the past few months, medical records show the school nurse has treated students every week for bruises sustained on the playground
3) Create a well rounded plan that covers all possible areas e.g. change the playground floor type, teach the children about safe play, increase supervision on playground, have a first aid box close etc.
4) Intervention must be creative and user friendly to the end user. Ease of use makes an intervention more likely to be used. E.g. my child safety story book, The Adventures of Muna uses stories and lots of pictures to pass the safety message
5) You must have a feedback/evaluation system. If you had clear and specific goals from the beginning, evaluation will be easy because you know what you’re measuring for. E.g. when the rates of injury attributed to the playground drops
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