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Abstract #172952

Alexander Libin, PhD, Suzanne Groah, MD, MSPH, Miriam I. Spungen, BS, Christina C. Myers, BS, and Donal E. Lauderdale, MSE PMP. National Rehabilitation Hospital, 102 Irving St. NW, Washington, DC 20010, 202-877-1070, alexander.libin@medstar.net

Objective: To explore the process of concept formation of injury and injury prevention in preschool children engaged in an interactive curriculum involving participation of a person with disability (PWD).

Design: Cross-over and repeated measures controlled design.

Participants/methods: 44 children, ages 4-6, formed two intervention (1,2) and one control (3) group. Pre- and post-intervention assessments utilized the newly developed Disability Awareness Rating Scale (DAR), and the Social Skills Subscale from the Bracken Basic Concepts Scale. The 1st group received our Healthy Tomorrow (HT) program structured as 4 lessons on understanding injury and related issues (e.g., disability, assistive technology). The 2nd group received ad hoc instruction from their usual teacher who had been oriented to the goals and methods of HT. The 3rd group received the usual preschool curriculum.

Results: Preschoolers in the 2 intervention groups advanced in their understanding of injury thus demonstrating better organization of injury-oriented perceptual and reasoning processes, conceptually viewed as basic elements of cause-effect relationships in a newly developed Injury Concept Formation Model (ICFM). DAR scores showed improvement in both intervention groups compared to control.

Conclusions: Promoting understanding of injury prevention in preschool children requires engaged learning as specific concept formation does not unfold naturally in the course of the self- and social development. A curriculum based on understanding of injury through modeled experience, including person-to-person contact with a PWD, is more effective in promoting injury prevention initiatives than are programs that rely on a non-interactive teaching strategy.

This project was funded by NIDRR grant #H133B031114

Learning Objectives:

• Present a state-of-the-art evidence-based framework for best practice in early education of injury prevention in preschool-aged children.
• Discuss the implementation of a newly developed Healthy Tomorrow curriculum aimed at developing injury prevention understanding in young children via experiential learning.
• Participants will be able to identify the critical barriers to school health promotion.

Keywords: Child Health Promotion, Injury Prevention

Related Web page: www.sci-health.org/HT/index.php

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Yes
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.