Health Literacy and Injury Prevention Behaviors Among Caregivers of Infants

Background Unintentional injury is a leading cause of infant mortality. Purpose To examine the role of caregiver health literacy in infant injury prevention behaviors. Methods A cross-sectional analysis of data collected in 2010−2012 from a randomized trial at four pediatric clinics was performed in 2012−2013. Caregiver health literacy was assessed with the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults. Caregiver-reported adherence to American Academy of Pediatrics–recommended injury prevention behaviors was assessed across seven domains: (1) car seat position; (2) car seat use; (3) sleeping safety; (4) fire safety; (5) hot water safety; (6) fall prevention; and (7) firearm safety. Results Data were analyzed from 844 English- and Spanish-speaking caregivers of 2-month-old children. Many caregivers were non-adherent with injury prevention guidelines, regardless of health literacy. Notably, 42.6% inappropriately placed their children in the prone position to sleep, and 88.6% did not have their hot water heater set