High prevalence of unintentional injuries and socio-psychological correlates among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec id="j_ijamh-2019-0069_abs_001_w2aab3b7b1b1b6b1aab1c13b1Aa"><jats:title>Objectives</jats:title><jats:p>The study aimed to report on the prevalence and socio-psychological correlates of non-fatal injury among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="j_ijamh-2019-0069_abs_002_w2aab3b7b1b1b6b1aab1c13b2Aa"><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Cross-sectional data from the 2015 Timor-Leste “Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS)” included 3,704 school children (median age 16 years, interquartile range 3) that were representative of all students in secondary school, excluding grade 12.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="j_ijamh-2019-0069_abs_003_w2aab3b7b1b1b6b1aab1c13b3Aa"><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>The proportion of participants with one or multiple serious injuries in the past year was 70.0% (40.6% once, 17.2% two-three times and 12.2% 4–12 times). The most frequent cause of the reported injury were “I fell” (33.8%) and motor vehicle (10.2%) and the most common type of injury was “a broken bone or dislocated joint” (7.8%) and “cut, puncture or stab wound” (6.7%). In adjusted multinomial logistic regression analysis, suicide attempt was associated with one injury, and truancy was associated with both one and multiple injury. Current tobacco use, lifetime cannabis use, soft drink consumption, and loneliness were associated with multiple injuries.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="j_ijamh-2019-0069_abs_004_w2aab3b7b1b1b6b1aab1c13b4Aa"><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Several variables were identified that could be targeted in injury prevention programmes in this school population.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Prevalence and Correlates of Unintentional Injuries among In-School Adolescents in Ghana

“…In the current study, the most reported causes of serious injuries were; fall, hit by an object or something, and motor vehicle accidents, while the majority reported cut or stab wound, a broken bone or dislocated joint, and head injury or concussion as the frequent type of serious injury. Similar findings have been reported in other GSHS studies [ 13 , 15 , 20 , 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”

“…All the studies reported prevalence rates below fifty percent. However, higher rates were found in Egypt (68.5%) [ 33 ] Djibouti (61.1%) [ 2 ], 65.8% in Botswana [ 16 ], and 70% in Timor-Leste [ 24 ]. Additionally, our finding on the prevalence of unintended injuries was lower compared to that of Pelzter [ 14 ], who reported a 68.2% prevalence of one or multiple injuries among adolescents from six African countries.…”

“…Consistent findings have been reported by other researchers using GSHS data in Egypt [ 33 ], Malaysia [ 20 ], and Botswana [ 16 ]. A possible explanation for the observed association could be that truant adolescents are more likely to engage in behaviors (such as violence, illegal road behaviors, drugs, and alcohol use) that contribute to the likelihood of an injury [ 24 ].…”

“…Evidence suggests that factors such as sociodemographic characteristics (male sex and low socioeconomic status) [ 14 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ] substance use (alcohol, tobacco, smoking, drugs) [ 2 , 14 , 15 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ], soft drinks consumption, physical education at school [ 15 , 20 , 22 ], psychological distress [ 15 , 20 , 22 , 23 ], being bullied [ 2 , 18 , 19 , 23 ], engaging in physical fight [ 2 , 18 , 19 , 25 ], truancy [ 14 , 20 , 22 , 25 ], ever had sex [ 20 , 21 ], depression [ 14 ], loneliness [ 14 , 24 , 25 ], and parental or guardian support and bonding [ 20 , 22 ] are associated with unintentional injuries among adolescents.…”

Violence and Non-fatal Injuries among Vietnamese In-school Adolescents: National Prevalence Estimates and Associated Factors

“…7-9,28-30 Notably, mental health is a risk factor for non-fatal injuries among female students and for violence in both genders, which accords with previous studies. 29,31 With the popularity of social platforms and rapid access to a wide range of information, Vietnamese students may face an increased risk of mental health problems, which is particularly worrying given that mental health is also associated with violence and non-fatal injury. Moreover, parents were found to play a crucial role in preventing violence and non-fatal injury among Vietnamese students; this may be explained by Vietnamese family culture, where parents and children have close bonds, and parents are often involved in children’s education, personal development, and even daily activities.…”