Unintentional injuries are the leading causes of mortality among children under the age of 5 in the United States. There is a dearth of information regarding the conceptualization of child supervision, which is particularly important for young children whose protection often depends on the actions of their caregivers. Determining the role supervision plays in preventing injuries is precluded by methodological challenges in developing appropriate, responsive and reliable measures of supervision. Measures of supervision that are derived from child caregivers themselves are needed because the concept and the actions that define it may differ among different population groups, styles of parenting and for different injury mechanisms. Concept mapping, the method of investigation proposed to be used in this study, is an innovative technique to address this need in the area of injury prevention. Concept mapping is an inductive, structured qualitative/quantitative methodology that will be used to explore how caregivers of children under the age of 5 conceptualize and operationalize child supervision. As a first step in addressing the role of child supervision, this proposed study will use the concept mapping process of brainstorming groups, sorting and rating groups and discussion/interpretation groups to conceptualize child supervision's role in injury prevention. Concept mapping techniques will allow us to explore sociodemographic and parenting style variations in the identification of behaviors that are central to child supervision, conceptualizations of child supervision with regard to injury mechanisms, and identify child supervisory styles and processes that are perceived to be amendable to change. As part of the continual learning process of the PI, a well versed and experienced researcher in injury prevention will serve as a mentor, structured coursework will be completed, and a scholarly review of previously published work in the area of parenting style, supervision and injury prevention will be prepared. This proposed study will serve to begin a program of research that will ultimately benefit the research and intervention arena of injury prevention among children by providing the field with needed information and data about the conceptualization and operationalization of child supervision.
