Development of an interactive storytelling-based injury prevention learning program for young children

Background/Purpose:

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death and acquired disability in children after the first year of life. Programs developed to prevent injuries in young children have principally targeted caregiving adults, yet internalization of safe behaviors on the part of the child is critical to his/her ultimate self-efficacy in preventing injury. We describe the development of a preschool injury prevention learning program employing interactive narrative as a teaching strategy and engaging an individual who has an unintentional injury-related disability as storyteller.

Methods:

A curriculum development panel of individuals with spinal cord injury used an affinity diagramming technique to identify and organize topical priorities and produced lessons dealing with vehicular passenger, traffic, sports and falls injury risks. 32 children aged 4-6 years received pre/posttesting to measure their concepts of injury prevention. Eleven children participated in lessons presented in interactive narrative format by a person with disability serving as storyteller. Another eleven children engaged the injury prevention curriculum but interpreted by their usual teacher. The remaining ten children received no exposure to injury prevention stories.

Results:

The children in the intervention groups demonstrated gains in injury-oriented perceptual and reasoning processes whereas the control children did not. Children who interacted with the person with disability as storyteller showed the greatest gains.

Conclusion:

Injury prevention education of children ages 4-6 is a domain in which interactive narrative-based pedagogy can be effective. Interaction with a person who has experienced injury may deepen learning and enhance internalization of injury prevention strategies. NIDRR grant #H133N060028.