Citation

Berecki-Gisolf J, Rowland B, Reavley N, Minuzzo B, Toumbourou J. Inj. Prev. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043386

PMID

31753904

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Injuries are one of the three leading causes of morbidity and mortality for young people internationally. Although community risk factors are modifiable causes of youth injury, there has been limited evaluation of community interventions. Communities That Care (CTC) offers a coalition training process to increase evidence-based practices that reduce youth injury risk factors.

METHOD: Using a non-experimental design, this study made use of population-based hospital admissions data to evaluate the impact on injuries for 15 communities that implemented CTC between 2001 and 2017 in Victoria, Australia. Negative binomial regression models evaluated trends in injury admissions (all, unintentional and transport), comparing CTC and non-CTC communities across different age groups.

RESULTS: Statistically significant relative reductions in all hospital injury admissions in 0-4 year olds were associated with communities completing the CTC process and in 0-19 year olds when communities began their second cycle of CTC. When analysed by subgroup, a similar pattern was observed with unintentional injuries but not with transport injuries.

CONCLUSION: The findings support CTC coalition training as an intervention strategy for preventing youth hospital injury admissions. However, future studies should consider stronger research designs, confirm findings in different community contexts, use other data sources and evaluate intervention mechanisms.

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Language: en

Keywords

epidemiology; injury diagnosis; safe Community