Unintentional injuries: prevention strategies for under 15s

There is a lack of UK studies evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of legislation, regulation and standards and their enforcement on related outcomes such as compliance, safety, risk taking behaviours and injury. Cost-effectiveness data rarely considers the cost of developing and promoting legislation.

Most studies rely on self-reporting to record morbidity outcomes, protective factors and unintended consequences before and after legislation. In addition, baseline data is rarely collected prior to legislative or regulatory change.

There is a lack of studies that report specific outcomes for children.

There is a lack of UK studies which record and take into account confounding factors that could impact on the effectiveness of legislation, regulation and standards. This includes children and young people's exposure to risk, environmental characteristics and changes in design standards.

There is a lack of studies comparing the effectiveness of legislation, regulation and standards across high-, middle- and low-income countries.

There is a lack of studies evaluating the impact of mass-media campaigns to support legislation, regulation and standards.

There is a lack of good quality qualitative research on the barriers preventing – and facilitators aiding – compliance with legislation, regulation and standards.

There is a lack of qualitative and quantitative research on injury prevention in the home.

There is a lack of information on the effectiveness of legislation relating to home safety assessments, thermal mixing valves, smoke alarms and window restrictors. Evaluations do not tend to incorporate process and outcome factors.

There is a lack of information on how well rules and regulations for different sports are enforced.

There is a lack of studies addressing the quantitative correlates of drowning.

There is a lack of evaluation of the effectiveness of different types of road signage.

There is a lack of studies on the differential effectiveness of network-wide, targeted or mixed approaches to speed enforcement on the road. There is also a lack of studies identifying the factors consistently associated with a reduction in injuries from road crashes.