Injury in the Developing World—From Prevention to Care

The role of various imaging modalities will be discussed with examples and images of various important conditions & Learn about: & Types of Imaging (X-ray) studies used for trauma patients & Understand their uses & Examples of organ and skeletal injury and typical findings & Cervical spine & Head & Chest & Abdomen The importance of qualitative research in identifying strategies to reduce deaths due to drowning Rasheda Khan, A. A. Hyder, S. E. Arifeen, Sabina Shahnaz International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), Bangladesh Objective Behavioral change messages, developed through qualitative research, are part of the package of interventions for reducing injuries. Social science methods aid in understanding the explanatory models of injuries and designing feasible and acceptable strategies to reduce injuries and deaths. This study was carried out to understand the cultural context of drowning and identify strategies to reduce drowning deaths in Bangladesh. Materials and methods The study was carried out in Matlab, Bangladesh. Methods included cognitive mapping, in-depth interviews and group discussion. Results The application of three qualitative research methods allowed for the creation of an explanatory model for drowning. Explanation for drowning is often associated with evil spirits. Care providers perceive noon to be the most difficult time to supervise young children. Mothers are perceived to be the primary care providers. A variety of strategies used to protect children from drowning were also reported through these methods. For possible interventions, a number of preventative strategies like daycare centers, leashes, playpens, carrying the child on back, door barrier and swimming were explored. Findings suggest that people were most responsive to playpens and door barriers while least responsive to carrying the child on back. Conclusion Cultural aspects and social frameworks need to be taken into account to ensure that strategies and messages 248 Int J Emerg Med (2008) 1:235–250