Enhancing Parental Knowledge of Child Safety: An Interventional Educational Campaign

Temsah, M.-H.; Aljamaan, F.; Alhaboob, A.; Almosned, B.; Alsebail, R.; Temsah, R.; Senjab, A.; Alarfaj, A.; Aljudi, T.; Esmaeil, S. A.; Jamal, A.; Habash, A. K.; Alsohime, F.; Alhasan, K.; Al-Eyadhy, A.

Background: Safeguarding children from unintentional injuries is a significant concern for parents and caregivers. With children staying more at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, more educational tools and valid educational programs are warranted to improve parental knowledge and awareness about children's safety. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of child safety campaigns on parents' knowledge and attitude towards preventable childhood injuries. Methods: This was a pre-post experimental study, in which the pre-designed assessments were used as an evaluation tool before and after attending a Child Safety Campaign. The Pre - Post assessment question included questions to evaluate the socio-demographic status, followed by knowledge questions in line with the current child safety campaign. The outcomes of interest were assessed before and after attending the campaign's stations. Results: Three hundred and eight parents volunteered to participate in this study. Their knowledge score improved from 36.2 (SD 17.7) to 79.3 (SD 15.6) after attending the Child Safety Campaign (t-value= 34.6, p<0.001). Both, perceptions on the preventability of accidents and the parents' perceived usefulness of educational campaigns showed improvements, with (t-value =6.3, p<0.001) and (t-value= 3.097, p<0.001), respectively. Conclusion: The educational child safety campaign for caregivers in Saudi Arabia resulted in a significant increase in the overall knowledge and attitudes towards children's safety. As children are currently staying at home more, additional educational tools and programs are warranted to promote childhood safe practices among parents and caregivers.