Effectiveness of home safety supervisory program (HSSP) on childhood injury, caregivers’ knowledge and behavioural outcomes-a randomized controlled trial protocol

Background: Childhood injuries represent an important global health problem. Most unintentional injuries to children under 5 years occur in and around the home as this is where they spend the majority of their time. Methodology: A study will be conducted among the caregivers’ of children between 2 years to 5 years who are the residents in the selected 30 villages of Udupi taluk. Study consists of two phases: Phase I: A cross sectional prevalence survey (N=2040), has already been done to find the prevalence of childhood injury among children between 2 to 5 years. The overall prevalence of injury among children was 98.6% 95%CI [97.6, 99.5]. Phase IIA randomized controlled trial (RCT): A sample size of 150 (10 households/village) from 30 villages will be included in the study, which was calculated statistically. Randomization of participants and villages for intervention and control was done by a person not involved in the study. A home safety supervisory program will be provided for the intervention group, the control group will receive a sham normal child care education. A baseline assessment and repeated follow ups in one month, three month and six month will be done in both the groups. The study outcomes will be assessed at each time.