Facilitator Summaries for Injury Prevention

Sage Ungar

MAIN POINTS:
  -Boys are more at risk for injury than girls (due to social expectations)
  *-Serious injuries are NOT inevitable... however, it takes education,
motivation and support to help prevent such injuries
  -Safety education plays a HUGE role in keeping young people safe; involves
knowledge, activity and commitment to others
  --> WORK TO PREVENT INJURIES BEFORE THEY HAPPEN
  -Risk factors:
     -MEDIA, home life, financial difficulties (poverty/low SES), lack of
impulse control, uneducated (don't know nonviolence is better than violence),
abuse/neglect, alcohol/drugs/guns

  -Preventative skills to help avoid unintentional injuries:
     problem solving, communication, decision making, impulse control,
refusal/resistance control, conflict resolution, empathy, stress management,
anger management, social perspective taking

  - Safety guidelines that deal with instruction and prevention (school and
community environment, emergencies as well as the need for family involvement)
  -US ranks 1st among industrial nations in rates of violent death
  -Myth/fact
  -Violence risk reduction practices- ex. Scare tactics, segregating aggressive
or antisocial students into isolated groups, brief instructional programs etc
(must be COMPREHENSIVE and DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE)
  **-Skilled teachers are an important link in the chain of reducing the
corrosive effects of child abuse

QUESTIONS:
  -What is the difference between intentional/unintentional injury?
  -Identify major categories of unintentional injury risk behaviors among young
people (ex. motor vehicle, home, school, community)
  -What are some examples of intentional injuries?
  -Why has a greater emphasis been placed upon today's youth to understand the
incidence and consequences of intentional injury?  (to improve the health and
well-being of all Americans; Americans of today, as well as those of our
future)
  -The Myth/Fact section was extremely helpful, why? (it helped clarify some
common stereotypes around intentional violence)
  -Name a few Risk Factors for intentional injuries, and discuss their
consequences. (see above)
  -Why is it important for teachers to have background information?  (teachers
must be aware of the impact of violence on the world, homes, local communities,
schools, familes, friends and children)
  -Skilled teachers are an important link in the chain of reducing the corrosive
effects of child abuse  (REFLECT and RESPOND to this quote)

April Wright

After facilitating the conversation about safety I felt confident in our groups
discussions.  Though we sometimes strayed from the topic our group discussed
the teachers role in teaching safety versus the parents role.  We thought that
a lot of the responsibility for teaching safety to kids falls on the teacher
when it should really be a cooperative effort between both the teacher and the
parents.  However, the fact is that not all parents are involved enough to
teach their kids about safety or they simply don't know what to teach.  We also
talked about how important it is for the teacher to be aware of his/her
students.  It is our job as future educators to help children if we think they
are in a harmful situation such as domestic abuse etc.  We need to know when
things are up with are students so we can keep them safe.  Overall, our
conversation flowed easily because we all seemed passionate about the issue.