A systematic review on the effectiveness of school and community-based injury prevention programmes on risk behaviour and injury risk in 8–12 year old children

Abstract Objectives To review existing literature on the effectiveness of community-based and school-based physical activity related injury prevention programmes implemented to increase safety behaviour and decrease injury risk in 8–12 year old children, considering the methodological quality of the studies. Design A systematic review with quality assessment. Methods A systematic search was performed using the CINAHL, Cochrane, EMBASE, PubMed and Sportdiscus databases. Inclusion criteria included the following: children aged 8–12 years; school- or community-based injury prevention programmes; an outcome defined as number of injuries, injury incidence or safety behaviour; published in an English language journal. Methodological quality was assessed for all included studies. Results The search yielded 5377 records, of which 11 were included in the review; four studies were considered as being of high quality. The focus of studies that were included was on the use of safety devices (8), pedestrian safety (2) and physical activity-related injury prevention (1). For safety device use, short term effects of school- and community-based interventions are promising for 8–12 year olds. Results regarding sustainability of the effect are inconsistent. A mediating effect on the distribution of safety devices was observed. Both financial and non-financial barriers seemed to prevent participants from purchasing a safety device. Conclusions The short term effects for school- and community-based interventions using safety devices for 8–12 year olds are promising. More high quality research is, however warranted, preferably shifting focus from safety behaviour change to actual physical activity injury reduction.