Brazilian mothers’ perceptions and behaviors about injury prevention in their children

Abstract

Objective

To clarify the sources of childcare information and child injury prevention information for Brazilian mothers living in Japan (hereafter referred to as "mothers"), and to clarify their perceptions and injury prevention behaviors.

Methods

A Portuguese self-administered anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted on 358 mothers with children aged 0–6 years.

Results

Mothers obtained information on injury prevention primarily from their families and Brazilian friends, in addition to public information magazines, SNS, and daycare centers, but only < 30% of them were health care providers and TV(Brazil). Moreover, the main sources of information on childcare were also their families and Brazilian friends and acquaintances.

58% of mothers knew websites with information about injury prevention, but only 28% of them recognized information in maternal and child health handbooks and childcare magazines.

Approximately 95% of the mothers believed that "children are prone to injury, thus, it is the parents' responsibility to protect their children from injury and they should teach their children how to protect themselves from danger".

Although 83% of mothers believed that, even if parents are careful, they cannot prevent their children from getting hurt, > 90% of them implemented 7 of the 11 injury prevention behaviors. Less than 80% of mothers performed the other 4 preventive behaviors.

Conclusion

Mothers obtained injury prevention information primarily from their families and Brazilian friends, indicating the importance of information accessibility in their native language. Moreover, it was suggested that online information dissemination was more efficient. Information on injury prevention from family, friends seems to be more limited than childcare information from them. Most mothers were found to practice injury prevention behavior, indicating that they have a high level of awareness of injury prevention. A small number of mothers could require education and information on injury prevention.