Child Safety and Accident Prevention: A Study on Mothers' Knowledge and Practices in Bengaluru Communities

Accidents are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children globally. Mothers play a pivotal role in ensuring child safety and preventing accidents within home environments. This descriptive study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of mothers regarding child safety and accident prevention in selected community areas in Bengaluru, India. A total of 60 mothers of under-five children were selected through Non-Probability Convenient Sampling technique. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire to evaluate their knowledge and a checklist to assess their practice. The findings revealed that while the majority of mothers had an adequate level of knowledge regarding child safety, but there were significant gaps in the practical implementation of safety measures. The vast majority of mothers (86.6%) were categorized as having good practices concerning child safety and accident prevention. Meanwhile, 11.7% exhibited acceptable practices, and 1.66% were found to have poor practices. The correlation analysis, reveals that there was no significant relationship between knowledge and practice regarding child safety and accident prevention among mothers of under-five children. The computed correlation coefficient (r = 0.001) was less than the table value, leading to the acceptance of the null hypothesis, which stated that there is no relationship between knowledge and practice. Factors such as education level, socio-economic status, previous experience of accidents, and other basic variables were found to have no influence on knowledge and practice. The study underscores the need for targeted educational interventions to further more improve maternal knowledge and enhance the practice of safety measures to prevent childhood accidents.