Citation

Timpka T, Nilsen P, Lindqvist K. Public Health 2006; 120(5): 427-433.

Affiliation

Division of Social Medicine and Public Health, Department of Health and Society, Linkoping University, Linkoping, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.puhe.2005.12.002

PMID

16566951

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Few studies have investigated the impact of home safety promotion programmes on different social strata. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of effects of a community-based home safety programme on home injury rates among families with different connections to the labour market. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design was used, with pre- and post-implementation registrations covering the total populations below 65 years of age in the programme implementation area (population 41,000) and in a neighbouring comparison municipality (population 26,000) in Ostergotland County, Sweden. RESULTS: In the intervention and comparison areas, households in which the adults were not vocationally active displayed the highest rates of home injury. After 6 years of programme activity, the home injury rates for males and females in all social status categories displayed a decreasing trend in the intervention area. The opposite was true for the comparison area, i.e. the incidence of injury increased, with the exception of females in non-vocationally active households. The decline in injury rates in the intervention area was statistically significant for males and females in the employed category and for males in the non-vocationally active category. Changes in injury rates in the comparison area were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The programme was partially successful in that it reduced the injury rate in non-vocationally active households, but it did not influence the injury rate in the employed households. The study design did not allow for conclusions regarding why the post-intervention injury rates remained higher in non-vocationally active households. Further research on the association between the incidence of home injury and socio-economic factors is warranted.