Parental Home Safety Practices for Domestic Accident Prevention: How Prepared Were Parents for COVID-19 Confinement? A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

(1) Background: Children are susceptible to home injuries. How prepared parents were to protect their children from accidents before and during the COVID-19 quarantine is uncertain. (2) Methods: We conducted a community-based, cross-sectional study in Greece between November and December 2021. We asked parents to complete an anonymous questionnaire voluntarily. Questions focused on accident-preventive measures taken at home during the COVID-19 quarantine. (3) Results: A greater proportion of parents took protective measures for a safer home before the lockdown than during the quarantine, while an interesting percentage of parents never utilized preventive measures for their children. Slightly more than half (58.6%) of parents did not seem to worry about a possible increase in domestic accidents during the quarantine. It was observed that those who had one or two children took more protective measures than those with more than two children. Older parents seemed to explain to their children how to access emergency services more often. Mothers stayed at home with the children more often, and their education affected the presence of some of the assessed measures. In our logistic regression modeling, parental concern about accidents was more related to the incidence of an accident during the pandemic and attendance at seminars. (4) Conclusions: Although the COVID-19 lockdowns disorganized family life, parents were aware of the importance of their parenting role in creating a safe environment for children, but according to the study, there is room for improvement.

Keywords

• COVID-19 pandemic
• parents
• home accidents
• children
• injury