Cool Runnings: A smartphone app-based intervention for educating mothers of young children about hot drink scalds risks and burn first aid.

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In Australia, as in most developed countries, hot beverage scalds are the leading cause of burn injuries in young children. The high incidence of hot beverage scalds make it an important paediatric public health issue, yet is often overlooked in research and injury prevention. Not only are hot beverage scalds painful, they carry a risk of lifelong psychological stress and physical scarring. As well as the physical and emotional consequences, the associated financial costs of managing these injuries on the healthcare system are also substantial. Therefore, developing targeted prevention strategies to reduce these injuries are essential. The aim of this project is to develop an awareness and prevention program specifically targeting mothers of children aged 5 to 12 months using an App-based ‘gamified’ platform. Mothers will receive messages about hot drink scald risk factors associated with their child’s age and developmental stage, and the correct burn first aid treatment. The potential benefits of this intervention include: - Increased awareness among mothers of young children about the risks, severity and frequency of hot beverage scald injuries. - Reduction in both the incidence of hot beverage scalds among young children, and the long-term physical and psychological impact of these injuries on the child, family and community. - Reduction in health care costs and burden on health system. - Potential for campaign to be rolled out in other regions and states. By increasing mothers' awareness of the frequency and severity of hot beverage scalds, and providing them with regular age-relevant messages of the potential risk factors, they will be better equipped to take preventative measures, and provide the correct first aid in the event of a scald occurring to minimise injury severity. This study will use ‘gamification’ techniques (rewarding participants for involvement) in an awareness and prevention program. Innovative new technologies such as Smartphone applications (apps) present a novel way for delivering individual-level injury prevention messages. Smartphone ownership goes beyond socio-economic status boundaries. One of the latest methods being used in health-related apps aimed at behaviour change is gamification. Gamification is “applying game mechanics and game design techniques in a non-game context in order to engage and influence people’s beliefs, attitudes & behaviours”. Although there are a multitude of health related apps currently available for chronic disease management, smoking cessation, weight loss etc, to date there has been no research into the efficacy of using gamification in injury prevention interventions.