Grant: Applied Chairs in Reproductive, Child & Youth Health Services & Policy Research

Injuries are the leading cause of death among children between 1 and 19 years old. The number of children who die of injuries in Canada has decreased over the past several decades. There are some policies that have been shown to help keep children safe, including bicycle helmet laws, booster seat laws, graduated driver's licensing, and health care systems that organize the way children get care if they are injured. However, in Canada, these policies are different across the country. This research aims to answer three questions: 1. Do decision-makers understand what is a strong policy, i.e., one that is based on scientific evidence? 2. How are decisions to adopt these policies made? 3. Can we use the information we have to make Canadian injury prevention policies better? We will present decision-makers with the results of previous research on these policies and help them understand where their policy fits with the evidence. Examples of case studies of successful and not successful policies will be examined to try to understand factors that influence decision-making. Finally, we will see whether presenting this evidence will guide future decisions around injury prevention policies across Canada.