The Impact of Lectures (Given to Children from 9–11 Years) on the Recognition of Risk Situations for the Occurrence of Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Introduction It is believed that the prevention of head trauma (TBI) can be achieved with campaigns to raise awareness about safety measures. Methods Longitudinal, observational and analytical cohort study. Standardized questionnaires were administered to students from 4th to 6th grade elementary school, before and immediately after the intervention. Items on habits//exposure to TCEs were analyzed categorically as theoretical knowledge were evaluated semi-continuously. A randomly selected subgroup was subjected to the same questionnaires past 9 months of educational lectures. Results A total of 117 students (55 girls) were interviewed initially (4th [n ¼ 14/117], 5th [n ¼ 54/117] and 6th [n ¼ 49/117] series, average age of 9.8, 10, 7 and 11.8 years). Of these, 22 students were submitted to the late posttest (7th grade, 12.7 years on average). Among the participants, 37% (43/116) students had already suffered/knew someone who suffered TBI, 58% (18/31) were involved in traffic accidents and 42% (13/31) were involved in accidents with bicycle, skates or skateboard. Among these subjects, 90.3% reported occasional use or never having used protection during play. A significant discrepancy was detected between safety habits and theoretical knowledge related to helmet use and the use of seat belts (effective use versus hits on knowledge of respectively 37% versus 61%, and 70% versus 92%). In the theoretical evaluation, improvement was observed only with regard to the importance of helmet usage (61% in the pretest, 72% in the immediate posttest and 95% in the late posttest). Conclusion The high rate of experience with TBI coupled with the significant discrepancy between habits and knowledge regarding trauma prevention stress the need for effective measures leading to their actual implementation. The intervention increased awareness about the importance of helmet usage, suggesting partial effectivity from a theoretical standpoint.