New edition of book focuses on preventing childhood injuries
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* Teddi Dineley Johnson

From motor vehicle protections to safety standards for infant products, the field of injury prevention has made significant strides over the past 50 years. But despite the progress, injuries continue to be the leading cause of death for U.S. children. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, nearly 14,000 children died in 2007 due to injuries, and nearly 9 million children were nonfatally injured.

To present the most current research, practice and advocacy efforts focused on child and adolescent injuries, APHA Press in December is slated to release an updated edition of “Injury Prevention for Children and Adolescents: Research, Practice, and Advocacy.” With the second edition, editor Karen Liller, PhD, EdS, MA, retains a “faces of injury” component that has garnered praise for its ability to make the issue more real to readers.

“The purpose of the book is really to reach those people who can prevent injuries in children and adolescents, and to do that you really need to put a face on it,” said Liller, dean of the Graduate School and associate vice president for research and innovation at the University of South Florida. “And that is why in each chapter there is a story about a real person, a story that will draw you to the fact that we are doing this to prevent injuries in real people.”

Each of the book’s 16 chapters has been updated to reflect the most current data and relevant information for each topic area, said Liller, who is an APHA member. The book also offers two new chapters focusing on translating injury prevention research into practice and on the huge toll injuries have on children globally.

Motor vehicle crashes, violence, drownings, poisonings, falls, suffocations and burns continue to be the leading causes of death and disability for U.S. children, “but the numbers pale compared to what you see globally,” Liller said.

According to the World Health Organization, injuries and violence are major killers of children throughout the world, claiming the lives of more than 900,000 children younger than 18 each year.

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/41/9/3.2/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/41/9/3.2/F1)

Childhood can be a time of fun, but kids are at risk of being disabled or killed by injuries.

Photo courtesy Jennifer Byron, iStockphoto

Contributions from more than 40 injury prevention and intervention experts from the fields of education, government and practice are featured. The book covers topics such as motor vehicle and pedestrian injuries, sports and recreational injuries, hazards associated with nursery products, youth suicide, firearm injuries, abuse and neglect, childhood agricultural injuries, water-related injuries, home injuries and injuries sustained by teens on the job, to name a few.

Though the injury prevention field has made progress in recent years, joining with groups that have produced changes in the environment, products and behaviors, much more needs to be done, Liller said.

“We need to do more to get the message out further,” she said. “This job will never be done, but as we learn to translate and put our messages into practice, we will get there.”

Intended for a wide audience, the book will benefit students, researchers and practitioners in public and private agencies who work with parents, children, caregivers and families on issues pertaining to injury prevention and control.

For more information, visit [www.aphabookstore.org](http://www.aphabookstore.org) or email apha{at}pbd.com.

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association