National case studies
Knowing what works is an important first step for effective injury prevention, but the reality is that adopting, implementing and monitoring a policy or programme is not a simple task. Policies and programmes must be integrated into complex system(s) in light of existing political, social and physical environments. Therefore, a lot can be learnt through the review and analysis of situations where attempts have already been made to adopt, implement and monitor policies or programmes (whether successful or not).
As part of the TACTICS project each country partner is being asked to develop a national case study which examines factors that promote or hinder uptake, implementation and/or monitoring the impact of good practices. In addition to exploring factors that relate to leadership, infrastructure and capacity, the studies will examine how potential gains in safety can be tied to gains in other health areas and efforts to reduce social inequality For example, activities to create safer play environments for children lead to increased levels of physical activity which in turn may lead to reductions in obesity; efforts to reduce alcohol abuse lead to reductions in both intentional and unintentional injuries; solutions for home and community safety can reduce injuries in both children and the elderly.
Given the scarce resources for injury prevention, the ability to think more broadly and integrate injury prevention solutions into existing cross-cutting mechanisms and/or to address multiple issues with a single solution is desirable. The development of detailed examples will provide inspiration and practical assistance to countries and regions undertaking such an approach.
The TACTICS project will develop a framework and guidance document for the national case studies. The studies will focus on policies or programmes targeting pre-school, school age or adolescent children in four areas of child injury prevention:
- Road
- Water
- Home safety
- Intentional injury prevention
TACTICS will organise workshops for autumn 2011 and spring 2012 where country partners will present and disucuss the national case studies. The results will be synthesised and used to guide further TACTICS work. A final report sharing the results and lessons learnt from the national case studies workshops will be made available in 2013.
