The purpose of this study was to provide basic data on preschool children of accident prevention and to improve their health through a sound, safe living environment with safety education established through more systematic methods. Data were collected from 516 preschoolers from 4 to 6 years old using APP paper test which consists of a question and drawing. The children's general characteristics and accident proneness prospect were investigated. The relationship between the children's general characteristics and the accident proneness prospect were analyzed. The findings of the study are as follows: 1. The institution which children attended had a significant difference in accordance with the living safety(p=.015) and behavior character(p=.033). 2. The housing pattern in which children lived had a significant difference in accordance with the movement speed(p=.027). 3. The children's age had a significant difference in accordance with the living safety(p=.002), traffic safety(p=.001), the reasoning power(p=.000), movement speed(p=.00), movement stability(p=.000) and attentional power (p=.000). 4. The children's sex had a significant difference in accordance with the movement stability and behavioral character(p=.003, p=.008). 5. The children's past accidental experience had a significant difference in accordance with the behavior character(p=.001). 6. General assessment of the APP test had a significant difference in accordance with the children's age(p=.000) and children's past accidental experience(p=.020).
This study was conducted to understand the health status and health behaviors of preschoolers to provide baseline data for developing health promotion programs.
Parents of children attending day-care centers were recruited for the study. Participating day-care centers were selected using a stratified sampling method. Data was collected from June to August 2002 using a questionnaire.
Among 754 preschoolers, 17.3% were overweight, while 18.2% were underweight. The most frequent infectious diseases that children have had previously were hand-foot-mouth disease (20.2%) and chicken pox (18.7%). Current health conditions that children have frequently are respiratory disease (28%) and atopic dermatitis (23.8%). Only 61% brush their teeth everyday at bedtime, 54.3% wash their hands every time after returning home, 8.8% wear bicycle helmets, 9.3% use a child car seat, and 8.1% eat fruits and vegetables five times a day. Children residing in the metropolitan area were more likely to have positive health behaviors, and children of parents with an advanced college level education were more likely to have positive health behaviors than those with only a high school level education.
Based on the study results, health professionals could plan and develop health promotion programs to change unhealthy behaviors of preschoolers targeting high-risk groups.