PARENT-REPORTED INJURY-ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORS AND LIFE EVENTS AMONG INJURED, ILL, AND WELL PRESCHOOL CHILDREN (EMERGENCY CARE).

Description

Injury and illness pose significant morbidity problems for preschool children and are the primary reasons for emergency department treatment visits. Parents' reports about their preschool children's injury associated behaviors and recent life events were construed as pattern manifestations of the human and environmental fields within the framework of the Science of Unitary Human Beings (Rogers, 1970). Injury, illness and wellness were construed as indices of change of the human field. This case control study was an attempt to determine if there were differences in the numbers and types of parent-reported injury-associated behaviors and life events among injured, ill and well preschool children. Participants were the parents of preschool children (aged four to six) who presented to the pediatric emergency service of a tertiary care center. The convenience sample of 151 children sought treatment for minor injuries (n = 50), minor illnesses (n = 51) and well child care (n = 50). Consenting parents completed the Injury Behavior Checklist (IBC) (Speltz, Gonzales, Sulzbacher & Quan, 1990), the Life Event Scale-Children (Coddington, 1981), and a demographic data sheet. Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistical tests. Significant differences were found among the three groups with respect to age, sex, race, parents' socioeconomic status, parents' marital status and attendance at daycare/preschool. There were no differences in the numbers and types of injury- associated behaviors, nor were there any differences in the numbers of life events. There were differences, however, in the types of life events. The lack of differences in parent-reported injury associated behaviors and life events was attributed to the lack of conceptual congruence between the instruments and the Rogerian theoretical framework. Future studies within the Rogerian model should use instruments specifically derived from this model.

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