Can A Storybook Intervention Increase Children’s Home Safety Knowledge and Decrease Risk Behaviours?

• Main Author: Reim, Elyse
• Other Authors: Morrongiello, Barbara
• Language: en
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Injury Prevention
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10214/3088

The goal of this study was to examine whether a storybook about home safety would increase hazard recognition, and reduce risky behaviour in children three through five years of age. Participants were randomly assigned to either receive the storybook intervention or a control condition. While robust group differences were not found, the results revealed trends as expected. There was a significant increase in hazard identification scores from pre- to post-intervention in the intervention but not the control condition, with greater reading time positively associated with larger improvements. Moreover, while children in the control group showed a marginally significant increase in number of hazards they touched from pre- to post-intervention, those in the intervention group did not. The pattern of these findings suggests that the storybook intervention, to some extent, positively impacted both knowledge and behaviour. Suggestions for future research are discussed.