An adolescent injury intervention: selecting targeted behaviours with implications for program design and evaluation

Abstract

Objectives. This paper sought to identify the behaviour change targets for an injury prevention program; Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY). The aim was to explore how such behaviours could subsequently be implemented and evaluated in the program. Methods and design. The quantitative procedure involved a survey with 267 Year 8 and 9 students (mean age 13.23 years) regarding their engagement in risk-taking behaviours that may lead to injury. The qualitative study involved 30 students aged 14 to 17 years reporting their experiences of injury and risk-taking. Results. Injury risk behaviours co-occurred among three-quarters of those who reported engaging in any alcohol use or transport or violence related risk behaviour. Students described in detail some of these experiences. Conclusions. The selection process of identifying target behaviours for change for an injury prevention program is described. Adolescents’ description of such risk behaviours can inform the process of operationalising and contextualising program content and deciding on evaluation methodology. The design of an effective injury prevention program involves considerable preparatory work and this paper was able to describe the process of identifying the behavioural targets for change that can be operationalised and evaluated in the injury prevention program, SPIY. What is known about the topic? Injury is a significant health concern for young people with multiple risk behaviours leading to injury. The context of such behaviour and injury is not well understood from the perspective of young people. Further, the clustering of such risky behaviours is often not examined. What does this paper add? This paper reports on a study that examines self-reported behaviours associated with injury among early adolescents and provides a qualitative perspective from the adolescents themselves about their injury and risk behaviour experiences. What are the implications for practitioners? School-based curriculum programs have the potential to deliver health promotion messages. However there are competing demands on curriculum time. Findings from this study suggest a curriculum program could effectively target change in alcohol, transport and violence risk behaviours as the behaviours co-occur and adolescents understood such behaviour and injury experiences are from the same context. School-based health promotion strategies that target many behaviours might thus provide a more efficient and accepted approach.