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Supervision

   Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children, and many of these injuries can be prevented through appropriate supervision. In 2001, 5,526 children under 14 years of age died from unintentional injuries; and in 2002, more than6.5 million were seen in emergency departments (CDC 2004).  Many studies have described how lapses in supervision lead to injury—such as drownings, burns, and poisonings (Pollak-Nelsonand Drago 2002; Landen, Bauer, and Kohn 2003;Simon, Tamura, and Colton 2003).  The key for preventing many of these unintentional injury deaths and disabling injuries among children is effective supervision, yet this behavioral component of injury prevention lacks conceptual and methodological clarity. Without this foundation it is difficult to develop and test interventions. CDC’s Injury Center is taking the lead in exploring the critical link between supervision and injury prevention. 

Research

Supervision in Injury Prevention Workshop —
   CDC sponsored an expert meeting to assess the role of supervision in preventing unintentional injuries among children and to identify areas where more research about supervision is needed.  The meeting resulted in several suggestions for developing models of supervision and supervision intervention research.