Injuries in Norwegian Early Childhood and Care (ECEC) Institutions

Abstract

Children’s play and exploration involves risk and a possibility for being injured. Early childhood and care institutions (ECECs) should provide children with physical challenges in a safe environment. Over the past years, the attention towards playground safety and injuries in ECECs has increased. Norwegian practitioners have a liberal approach to children’s risk taking in play, raising questions on injury prevalence in Norwegian ECECs. The aim for this study was to gain knowledge about the injury prevalence and characteristics of the injuries in Norwegian ECECs. Managers from 2105 institutions completed an electronic questionnaire retrospectively asking the managers to report injuries and accidents the past year. The results indicate that injuries are rare in Norwegian ECECs, and that most of the injuries are minor and do not require a follow-up from professional medical personnel. The moderate and severe injuries are very rare, and often mishaps. There are some indications that boys experience injuries more often than girls do. The main cause of moderate injuries is falling, both outdoors and indoors.