Denna licentiatavhandling syftar till att beskriva barns (0-6 år) utsatthet för olycksfallsrisker i hemmiljön genom att fokusera på omfattningen av bränn- och skållskador, föräldrars uppfattningar om påverkande faktorer till olyckshändelser samt föräldrars uppgifter om egen följsamhet till olycksförebyggande råd och anvisningar. I barnhälsovården (BHV) ges råd och anvisningar kring olika åtgärder lämpliga i förhållande till barns utveckling. Dessa råd ges kontinuerligt och under barnens 6 första år. Innehållet i råden är reglerat i det basprogram som föräldrar till alla barn i Sverige erbjuds fram till skolstart. Få studier beskriver i vilken utsträckning föräldrar följer dessa råd och vilka faktorer som påverkar dels föräldrarnas följsamhet till råden dels faktorer som påverkar risken för barnolycksfall. I denna licentiatavhandling är exemplet skållskador (ΙΙ, ΙΙΙ) beskrivet som ett av flera möjliga olycksfall i hemmiljö som barn drabbas av.

The overall aim of this licentiate thesis was to increase the knowledge about children’s (0–6 years old) exposure to accidents in the home environment through parents’ opinions about accidents and parents’ self-reported compliance with precautions. Data were collected from parents of 10-month-old children who answered a questionnaire. The questionnaire prompted responses related to parents’ background and socio-economic factors as well as questions about precautions they had taken to decrease hazards in their home. The questions focused on actions parents had taken upon receipt of preventive advice given to them during the eight-month Child Health Care nurse assessment. Thirty-two percent of the parents complied with less than half of the suggested precautions. Univariate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% C I) were calculated to investigate the associations between compliance and parents’ different background/socio-economic characteristics. The variables foreign born, low occupational level, 12 years’ education or less, rented housing and information provided at Child Health Care clinics proved to be statistically significant for the non-compliant group. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed in order to adjust the estimated odds ratios for the influence of potential confounders such as parents’ nationality, educational and occupational level, place of information and habitation. After the adjustment the variable nationality and educational level stayed significant (Ι). Data in article ΙΙ were collected from medical records, in a retrospectively designed study. Burn-injured children (0–6 years old) consulting the University Hospital or the health centres (21) during 1998 and 2002 were included. Chi-squared test was used to analyse differences in nominal data and cross-tabulation was used to analyse the proportions between the characteristics of the injuries and sex, age and nationality. There were 148 burn injuries, 80% of which were scalds caused by hot liquid (71%) or hot food (29%). The majority were to boys between one and two years old. Children of foreign-born parents were more frequently affected and the extent of injuries often larger. The data collection method in article ΙΙΙ was tape-recorded interviews, analysed by content analysis, with parents of 20 children (0–6 years old) recently suffering from scalds. Parents told their perceptions about causes of the scalds. The analysis resulted in eight categories and two themes. One theme was ‘Deviation from the normal’, which could be when something unusual happened, such as a sudden visit by a friend or when a family member was tired, stressed or ill. The tiredness could be due to fever, a cold, other illnesses or mental stress. It could also be when something was broken in the kitchen and routines were changed. ‘Misjudgement of the child’s capacity’ was the other theme, which it concerned the children’s preventive capacity, rapidity and reach. It was hard for the parents to keep up with the fast development of the small children (9 months–2 years). The parents said that they often did not realise the child’s capacities until the accident occurred. Key words: accident, burns, child, compliance, intervention, prevention and scalds