Table Of ContentACCIDENTS TO CHILDREN:
IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH EDUCATION
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the School of Social Work
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Social Work
by
Margaret Mcglasson
June 1950
UMI Number: EP66350
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This thesisj written under the direction of the
candidate*s Faculty Cnm.m.ittee and approved
by all its members, has been presented to and
accepted by the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Social Work in partial fulfilment of the re
quirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK
Dean
Thesis .MCGLASSON
Faculty Committee
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TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM AND EMPHASIS IN THIS STUDY........ 1
II* LITERATURE AND TRENDS IN ACCIDENT PREVENTION . . 9
Education in the elementary schools, 1919-1930 9
Emphasis on nWomtBn responsibility, 1930-1940 13
Beginning recognition that the problem belongs
to many institutions and many individuals,
1940 to present time • • • • • • • • • • ♦ * 19
III. PRESENTATION OF CASE FINDINGS ............. 32
General findings • • • • • « • • • • • • • * * 32
Place of occurrence • . • * • • • • . * • • « 33
Age of children 38
Significance of multiple accidents • • • • • • 40
Significance of supervision « . . « • « • • • 42
Excessive concern with supervision 45
Significance of overprotection • • • • • • . * 48
Summary of implications of overprotection and
excessive concern with supervision • ♦ » • • 52
Analysis of cases where there was no direct
supervision at time of accident • • « • • • 53
1
Analysis of cases where there was no apparent
neglect 58
Analysis of cases where there was parental
neglect and accident seemed preventable • • 59
ii
CHAPTER PAGE
Summary of implications relating to
supervision . . • • • • • • * • • • • • « • • 60
IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ........... 62
BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • •... ....... 69
APPENDIX 72
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND EMPHASIS IN THIS STUDY
In a typical year accidents kill more children, more
young men and women than any disease# In 1946, according to
figures compiled by the National Safety Council, 99,000 per**
sons were killed, 10 million were injured in the United States,
and the total cost to our nation was more than five billion
out of this ten million injured there were approxi
d o l l a r s #3*
mately 370,000 permanent impairments# No one would deny that
here is a grave and menacing problem that must be dealt with
in some effective manner#
Even more serious, perhaps, are the implications of a
study prepared by the Statistical Division of the National
Safety Council which reveals that accidents are the leading
cause of death in children over one year of age*** Each year
some 20,000 children in the Uhited States die from accidental
deaths# The tremendous figure for additional ones who are
seriously maimed or disfigured for life, if available, would
make this a more staggering figure# One of the tragic elements
1
Herbert Yahraes, Make Your Town Safe! Public Affairs
Pamphlet #133 (Chicago; Public Affairs Committee, Inc#, 1947),
p# 3#
2
National Safety Council, Accident Facts (Chicago;
National Safety Council, 1949), p# 4#
2
in this is that it is estimated that approximately 70 to 80$
of these accidents are preventable*^ Many believe also that
parents are accomplices in these accidents, and it is through
parents that prevention must be accomplished*
This problem of accident prevention for children has
been of concern to the public for many years* Three main
trends can be seen in the programs and methods that have been
employed in such prevention* The first planned safety work
began in 19T9 under the auspices of the National Safety Coun
cil in cooperation with the schools* Most of the responsibi
lity for prevention of accidents was delegated to the schools*
About 1930 there was a swing from an emphasis on the school vs
part in this program to the part that mothers played* Chtll
sometime in the 1940 fs f,mom,s,t responsibility for the child
overshadowed that delegated to the school; it was her "fault *•,
her negligence, that was the root of any and all accidents to
the child* The present trend is away from stressing the part
that any one person or institution plays in this total pro
blem* Accident prevention is being recognized as a complex
problem* The responsibility for its solution must be shared
by many organizations and individuals interested in the wel
fare of the child*
3
Etta C* Jeancon, 11 Accidental Injuries in Children, "
Annals of Western Medicine and Surgery* June, 1949, p* 226*
3
The Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, provided the
setting for a group of studies on accident prevention for
children. It is the belief of the administration of the hos
pital that many accidents are preventable. Four students from
the University of Southern California, School of Social Work,
were given the opportunity to study all accident cases requir
ing hospitalization from November 1, 1949 to December 12, 1949
with a view toward determining the validity of this premise,
to ascertain factors in the accident causation, and to sug
gest ways of reducing the number of these accidents. The hos
pital has been and is still intensely interested in research
in this area. Several leading magazines in this country, in
terested in presenting material based on faets and research,
have also indicated a desire for such research.
The four students who undertook this study were doing
their field work in either a medical or a psychiatric place
ment, They were interested in the several problems presented
by the hospital authorities and, while the objectives of their
studies varied, alX pointed to one use - more under standing
of the factors leading to accidents. One student studied the
specific constellation of factors in the accident itself, or
actually "what happened;19 she thought it might be possible to
find a definite correlation between certain external environ^
mental factors and the accident phenomena. Such findings, if
valid, definitely could be utilized in accident prevention.
These would he concrete, easily Illustrated facts that the
public could readily see and accept If presented authentically*
A second student believed there was much in the parent-child
relationship that could be highlighted in a dynamic way toward
health education in accident prevention* She examined the ma
terial available with the idea of discovering, if possible,
"what goes on behind all this**' It was her premise that the
child actually is led to have many accidents by reason of un
healthy relationships with the parent, but that these are
often on an unconscious level* The parent is not an ogre; he
or she will accept health education in this direction if it
can be presented logically without too much emphasis on the
guilt of the parent in respect to these accidents, and if the
material is based on facts that the public readily can assi
milate and digest* A third student was interested in the im
plications for casework services or "what can be done now?"
This thesis is not being written concurrently with the other
three but will be done after the others have been completed*
The present study centers around the kind of publicity
currently being used in accident prevention, and the trends that
have been followed in attempting to solve this problem* Both
the literature and the publicity on accident prevention were
examined and studied to learn what was of positive value and
what was of negative value* The writer, like the hospital
authorities, is familiar with the trauma of guilt feelings and
the havoc such feelings bring about in the behavior of an in
dividual* She questioned, therefore, the trends in publicity
that increasingly emphasized guilt of a parent In allowing
these accidents* She believes that the accident Is traumatic
enough without overemphasis of the natural guilt that any
parent feels when his or her child is maimed, disfigured, or
cruelly hurt* She was interested in examining the overpro-
tectiveness of children as related to the accident phenomena;
the amount and kind of responsibility that should be delegated
to other institutions such as the school, and the amount and
kind of supervision needed* What could be done beyond remov
ing the physical cause of the accident? What were the more
common types of accidents and where did these accidents occur?
Were there any vital child-parent areas that were being neg
lected? In reference to current health education and accident
prevention publicity, did this study point up possible changes
that would result in a more positive approach? What were these
people like, this accident population? Had they been fairly
rigid all their lives? If so, what would fixing guilt do to
them? Would it be found that the problem was Indeed one of
health, but also that it was concerned with mental health?
9 ... nt
The writer realized that she did not know what was "normal,*
but she did have some idea as to what is implied in the terms
overprotectiveness, rejection, guilt reactions, and rigidity*
Could this knowledge be utilized in accident prevention? Was
