56 Child injuries in Syrian refugee camps and villages in Lebanon: discourses of conflict and the struggle for medical aid

<h3>Background</h3> While a plethora of research demonstrates the disproportionate burden of injury experienced by refugee families globally, there is a dearth of research concentrated on exploring refugee family perspectives on child injury experiences. Refugee families can offer unique insight into their experiences with discrimination and displacement, and their perspectives on child injuries are important to examine to illuminate previously unidentified causes of child injury in camps and villages. <h3>Objective</h3> The goal of this study was to explore refugee family perspectives on child injuries in Syrian refugee camps and villages across Lebanon, to identify factors shaping children’s experiences with injuries, to explore their safety concerns, and to identify their child safety and injury mitigation practices. <h3>Methods</h3> Semi-structured interviews were conducted with families over a two-week period, with approximately 50 families participating. A post-structural feminist lens was employed to examine the power dynamics between refugee families, the experiences they voice, and the socio-political climate in which they reside that can make it difficult for them to seek medical aid. Critical discourse and narrative analyses were conducted to explore patterns of meaning and tension in their stories of child injury experiences and the safety practices they exercise.<b> Results</b> Findings from this study demonstrate that major injury concerns involve children experiencing burns, animal bites, engaging in self-harm practices, and being assaulted by adults and children outside of camp boundaries. <h3>Conclusions</h3> These findings can inform how we think about and engage in injury prevention research with equity-seeking communities, by specifically illuminating how socio-political climates and social determinants of health such as poor housing, poverty, and gender, can shape access to medical aid and the injury prevention practices families are able to exercise. Importantly, they expand scholarly understanding for how refugee families navigate socio-political discourses of conflict to provide care for their children.