1. INJURY PREVENTION
ADOLESCENTS AT RISK

2. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
“What factors can lead to unintentional injuries and what strategies can be utilized to prevent them?”

3. AGENDA ACTIVATOR “Unintentional Injuries” introduction
Watch 2012 Mock Crash
Wrap up

4. Activator QUESTION
Write a description of an incident that resulted in an injury that required an emergency room visit for you or for someone close to you

5. “Accidents” COMMON BELIEFS: “Accidents happen”
“When you’re number’s up, it’s up”

6. LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH
ALL AGES
15-24 YEAR OLDS
1. HEART DISEASE
2. CANCER
3. STROKE
4. RESPIRATORY DISEASES
1. “UNINTENTIONAL INJURIES” (46%)
2. HOMOCIDE (15%)
3. SUICIDE (13%)
2007 statistics cdc.gov

7. Causes of Death 15-24 year-olds

8. Injury causes (cdc.gov data for 2005)

9. Leading Causes of Death Ages 15-24

10. How big is the problem for ADOLESCENTS?
INJURY STATISTICS FOR U.S. ADOLESCENTS:
In 2007, for every injury death, there were about 16 injury hospitalizations and 163 cases treated in emergency rooms

11. For all age groups (per CDC.gov):

12. Who is most at risk?
In general, males are more likely than females to die of any type of injury
Homocide is the 2nd leading cause of death for young people ages (2010: 86% male victims, 14% female) (cdc.gov)
82.8% of homocides were committed using a firearm (cdc.gov)
Firearm violence amongst youth result in an estimated $16 billion dollars in combined medical and work loss costs (cdc.gov)

13. Most common Types of injuries
Largest proportion of adolescents injuries are due to motor vehicle crashes (The fatality rate for teen drivers is 4x higher than for drivers age based on miles driven)
Unintentional drug poisoning deaths on the rise..especially opioids
Adolescents are far less likely to wear seat belts - only 68% of Sharon High students reported that they always wear a seatbelt as a passenger!

14. (continued)
Adolescents are especially vulnerable to fatal crashes at night; they do 20% of their driving at night, but they have more than 50% of their fatalities at night.
When adolescents drive after drinking alcohol, they are more likely than adults to be in a crash, even when drinking less alcohol than adults.
Of licensed Sharon High Students, 1 in 5 (20.9%) report that they have driven a car at least once after drinking alcohol

15. Contributing Factors
Alcohol is involved in about 35% of driver fatalities in age group
Alcohol is also involved in ~40% of all teen drownings.
Distractions of other passengers:
one passenger with a teen driver doubles the risk of a crash
two or more passengers with a teen driver makes the risk of a crash five times higher

16. Contributing factors: Cell phones
A driver is twenty three times (23x or > 2,000%!) more likely to get into a car accident while driving and texting;
combines 3 types of distractions: VISUAL, PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE
4 out of 10 licensed Sharon High school students have texted while driving more than once
“THEIR WORLD COULD END AT THE PUSH OF A BUTTON” (From AAA pamphlet)
Drivers are also six times (6x) as likely to get into a car accident while dialing a number into their cellular devices

17. Contributing factors:
Among male drivers aged that were involved in a fatal crash, 39% of them were speeding
More than half (54%) of fatal teen crashes occur on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays

18. PREVENTION
Important to look at 4 categories of FACTORS and target prevention strategies accordingly:
PERSON WHO WAS INJURED or WHO INFLICTED INJURY
PRODUCT INVOLVED
ENVIRONMENT
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS

19. FACTORS Object that transfers the energy that causes the injury
PERSON WHO WAS INJURED OR WHO CAUSED INJURY
PRODUCT
INVOLVED
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Object that transfers the energy that causes the injury
Housing conditions
Roadway conditions
Surfacing material
Weather
Field conditions
Societal values and norms
Presence or absence of laws
Societal attitudes
Poverty

20. “TRE” OF INJURY PREVENTION
Three areas are targeted for injury prevention strategies:
“T” = TECHNOLOGY PREVENTION STRATEGIES
“R” = REGULATION PREVENTION STRATEGIES
“E” = EDUCATION PREVENTION STRATEGIES

21. “TRE” OF INJURY PREVENTION
TECHNOLOGY PREVENTION STRATEGIES
EDUCATION PREVENTION STRATEGIES
“THE INJURY”
REGULATION PREVENTION STRATEGIES