Scoping Review of Interventions for Preventing Incidents in Children Under 5 Years of Age

Background: One of the main causes of injury and death in children under 5 years of age is accidents. Lack of awareness about preventive measures against these accidents and having a belief that these accidents are inevitable are major issues in Iran. This study aims to investigate and categorize the interventions recommended for preventing accidents in children under 5 years of age. Materials and Methods: This scoping review was conducted in 2023. A search was conducted for the related studies in databases including Scopus, ISI, MEDLINE, Embase, Proquest, Cochrane Library, Emerald, MagIran, IranDoc, MoH thesis database and MoH articles database using the keywords “incident”, “accident,” “emergency,” “injury,” “disaster,” “road traffic,” “child,” “intervention,” “preparedness,” and “prevention.” The search was conducted on studies published in English or Persian, from 2000 to 2023. To assess the quality of the selected articles, the critical appraisal skills program (CASP) checklist was used. The data were analyzed using content analysis method in MAXQDA software, version 20. Results: The initial search yielded 1495 articles. After removing duplicates and irrelevant articles, and reading abstracts, and full texts, 41 studies (3 theses and 38 articles) were selected for the review. We produced 234 codes, 45 for interventions to prevent man-made disasters, 157 for interventions to prevent domestic accidents, 18 for interventions to prevent burn and electrical accidents and 14 for interventions to prevent traffic accidents. Conclusion: To prevent accidents in children under five years of age, there is a need for comprehensive efforts. Proper education for parents, teaching children about safe behaviors, installing appropriate safety equipment, and paying attention to the living environment of children can help reduce accidents in these children.