Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
HOME ACCIDENTS IN NIGERIA: EFFECTS AND
MEASURES FOR PREVENTION
By
O.O. OYERINDE
ABSTRACT
Accidents are prominent in the mortality rates of all age groups. Home accidents are
no exception. The study identifies the cause and effects of home accidents on family life in
Nigeria.
Questionnaires were administered to 250 randomly selected sampled families in Oyo,
Ondo, Bendel, Ogun and Kwara States. Subjects were required to examine each item on the
questionnaires and indicate their degree of acceptance or non-acceptance on a 5-point Likert
scale. The results were analysed using percentages, chi-square and rank order tables.
Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that home accidents bring a
generally unpleasant and unhappy atmosphere in the homes. The paper suggests education for
home safety and handling of home appliances including proper lighting of the family
premises.
INTRODUCTION
An important factor for a happy home is sound health. Health is considered by many in
terms of effective and enjoyable living. It is that quality of life which enables one to live
effectively and enjoyably in his physical and physiological, environment. Unfortunately, many
people consider disease, which is a harmful departure from normal health, as the only
determinant of health (Adesanya 1984). This is far from the case. All the qualities of
physique, emotion and metal well-being must be complete in the human being for anybody to
be considered healthy. Injuries and departures from wellness resulting from accidents are not
to be overlooked as forms of departure from sound health.
Udoh, (1984) emphasized that of all the problems that result in human discomfort,
injury, disability and death, accidents are in a class of their own. This is the case because
man has not been able to create a completely safe environment, mainly because his
environment is not a static one: it is dynamic and an environment without physical hazards is
very difficult to achieve. Parts of this environment are: the home, the school and the work
place (Adesanya, Udoh 1984).
Though more comfort now exists in the modern world, some dangers accompany this optimal condition which we must live with. For instance, shocks, burns, falls
and violent deaths can only stop if a stop is put to the use of electrical appliances in
the homes and a ban placed on the use of gas and other forms of modern fuel for
domestic purposes. Since this sophistication now pervade our environment, we must
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
live with it, practice it and teach it. To remove everything in which there is an element
of danger from our homes and lives will be to stop living (Boltonet al. 1963).
Accidents are prominent in the mortality rates of all age groups. Home accidents
are no exception. The age groups suffering the highest accident rates in the home are
children under 5 years and elderly people. 65 years of age and over. A large part
of these accidents that result in non-fatal injuries are referred to as home, nonoccupational accidents (Chernoweth and Selkirk 1953).
Contrary to common opinion, home is one of the most dangerous places in
which to be. Some of the accidents that occur here result in more deaths and
serious injuries than do accidents on streets, highways and schools. Backing this
ascertion, Bolton et al. (1963) found in the U;S. that each year 27,000 to 30,000
people die in home accidents, while over 4,000,000 are disabled and the cost
including wage loss, medical expense and insurance runs to 800,000,000.
The phrase ‘in the safety of your home has’ become a myth (Anderson 1970)
because even when safety practices and attitudes are learnt in the places of work, on
roads and other places they are often not carried into the home. Florio and Stafford
(1969) confirmed this reasoning when they identified improper attitudes and habits as
one of the five causes of accidents. Others include inadequate knowledge of and
lack of awareness of the need for safety precautions, unsafe behaviours, insufficient
skill on the part of auto-appliances users and environmental Hazards.
PROBLEM
The study is to identify the cause and effects of home accidents on-the family
life pattern in Nigeria.
The main assumptions of the study are that: Home accidents occur to people
that stay long hours at home, that home accidents do not just occur, they are
caused and that home accidents have varying forms of implications on the victim and
other members of the family.
The paper is expected to be of significance to the Nigerian public that care
less about happenings in their homes, for the feeling that home accidents are
inconsequential on the general family set up. This is besides the fact that it will
contribute significantly to academic literature and form a strong basis for future related
studies on family living.
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
METHOD
An adaptation of Udoh's (1984) questionnaire was made to evolve the ques tionnaires for the study. The chosen items from the original work was further
validated by 5 colleagues in health-related fields from the University of Ife main
Campus and Adeyemi College Campus.
The questionnaires were administered to 250 randomly selected sample
families in Oyo, Ondo, Bendel, Ogun and Kwara States. In administering the
questionnaires the following criteria were used:
(i)
Only fifty (50) family heads in each state were used,
(ii)
Thirty (30) of such families were those living in self contained housing
units, while twenty (20) of them were those living in other forms of
housing units.
The questionnaires were drawn to the Likert type style and rank order style. The
first questionnaire had 16 items while the second and third questionnaires had 10
and 10 items respectively. Subjects were required to examine each item on the
questionnaires and indicate their degree of acceptance or non-acceptance on a 5point Likert scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. They were also required to
rank the items according to its significance to the problems they were set out to solve.
In addition it helped to test the reliability of each of the subjects' responses.
All information and data were statistically analysed using percentages, chisquare and rank order tables.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
All questionnaires distributed were retrieved. However, not all the items were
fully responded to, though the omissions were few and did not affect the over all
intentions of the study negatively.
The study revealed that families agreed on the causes of home accidents identified on the questionnaire except for items 14 and 15 where respondents did not
agree on presence of stairs in the home and staying long hours at home as been
good causes for home accidents. This finding rejects the belief of Chenoweth and
Selkirk (1953) that "more people are injured in the home than
any other place
probably because people spend more time at home than in any other place."
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
They found in their study of home accidents in Britain that thos e who spend the
most time at home show the highest accident rates. Also the statement of Bolton
et al. (1963) is not true to home accidents occurring in Nigeria as proven in
TABLE 1
s/N
1.
CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS AND RANK ORDER OF THE CAUSES OF HOME
ACCIDENTS IN NIGERIAN HOMES
CAUSES
SA A
U
D SD Total
Lack of maintenance of
Home appliances
Ignorance about electrical
home appliances
Lack of Maintenance of
Broken furniture in the rooms
2.
3.
4.
Poor maintenance of
lawns around the home
5,
Lack of maintenance of tiles
, baths and floors
Lack of enough shelves
and drawers to heap wares,
glass, clothing’s
6
7.
% 81.3
120
N 63
94.7.
.% N 143 70
% 81.3
120
N 63
65,3
90
57
% 77,7
177
N 51
% 56.6 93
N 33
%
N
Carelessness at clearing
remains of broken wares
% 84.0
N 63.126
Carelessness at children
%
13.
play and poor supervision
Lack of knowledge and
patience in using gas and
Mishandling
of kerosene
electric cookers
stoves lanterns and
containers
Placing electric generators
at wrong position at night
Careless handling of
clothing’s, 'carpets, toys,
drugs
and water
Poor lighting
N
%
N
14.
Presence of stairs
15.
Staying long hours at home
16.
Lack of awareness that
the home is dangerous
place
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
= Significant
%
N
%
N
%
N
%
N
%
N
%
N
90
;6
93.
141
8 141
84.
4 84
69.9
57
84.
8 78
68.0
63
25.7
69
63
105
96
111
90
45
12
22.7 4.0
6
45
% 68.6
60
N 84
df=4, p= < 0.05, TableX 2 * 9.5
2.7 16.0
21 15
6
5.3
- 12
1.3 17.3 18
21
5
12. 22.7 21
30
27
5.6 16.7 18
12 - 18
44.0
64 15
5.3
12
1.3
3
0.9
2
10.3
23
12.3
27
0.4
1
6.7
15
20.2
45
4.0
9
225
10.7 18.
6
5
251.5*
1
225
200.-5*
6
225
101.4*
9
216
225
179.4*11
108.2* 10
11
10
225
227.2*
7
3
225
5.4 9
3
224
5.4 9 3
17.8 21
18
14.8 21
12
224
10.0 21.4
21 15 30
198.8*
RANK
ORDER.
225
8.0
15
33 24
54.0 63
51
73.3 60
105
X2
219'
225
310.4*
299.6*3
193.4*
99.6*
201.0*
2
3
4
8
13
225
222
86.4*
14
6
225
147.6*
15
210
81.0.*
12
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
this study that presence of stairs does no1" constitute a serious cause of home
accidents, These causes were ranked 15th and 16th respectively by respondents. Chisquare analysis of the items on the questionnaire showed that they were all
significant. This implies that the levels of agreement and disagreement arrived at do
not just occur, they are really so. See Table 1 for the results.
It. was of note in the study that home accidents in Nigeria are not ranked
highest as a form of accidents that lay claim to Fatality as is the case in the United
States of America were upwards of 30,000 people die annually in home accidents, 4
millions are disabled and costs running as high as $800,000,000 are incurred
through home accidents (Bolton et al., 1963). However, the study showed that
though home accidents in Nigeria ranked only next to road accidents in fatality,
home accidents ranked highest in occurrence of non-fatal injuries amongst the
four main groups of accidents listed by Udoh (1984) viz — Home, School, Industrial
and Automobile accidents. This finding tallies with the finding of Chenoweth and
Selkirk (1953) that the large number of nonfatal injuries occur in the home in which
motor-vehicles play no part. This only implies that even .though Nigerian .homes are
not as sophisticated as their counterparts in the developed parts of the world, home
accidents in Nigeria occupy the same position as those of the other developed
countries.
In any home that is based on love, peace and mutual relationship, the affairs
and welfare of one of its members is the concern of all. This concern both for self
and the other members of the family is multi-dimentional for the accident victim.
Beside the physical pain and monetary implication Anderson (1970) added that
there is a common pattern of emotional reactions and personalities in accident
victims. Usually, he continued, combinations of outside pressure and inner tempest
are present.
The fact of the effects and influences of home accidents on the general
atmosphere of the home is endorsed by a significant percentage of the subjects
used for this study.
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
TABLE 2
CHI-SQAURE ANALYSIS AND RANK ORDER OF THE IDENTIFIED EFFECTS OF HOME
ACCIDENTS ON NIGERIAN HOMES
S/N
EFFECTS
SA
A
U
D
SD Total
X2
RANK
ORDER
1.
.2.
3.
4.
Loss of Blood
Sprains of joints and muscles
Fractures of the bones of legs
the legs and arms
General body pain/weakness
6.
Head injuries and Ruptures
or Incisions
Gastro-Intestinal disorder
7.
% 81
N 39
%
N
%
N
%
N
%
N
Bruises, Burns and Scalds
5.
% 86. 7
N
N 54
72
42
91
.17
90
84
61
45
Concern and emotional stress
% 77
of parents, brothers and sisters of N 68
Unplanned for expenses and
waster of much needed pennies
10,
Poor attendance at school and
Work
+ = Significant, df = f,
8.0
141
12
9
144
9.3
21
12 9
120
6.7
15
21.
42
% 82
N 93
% 57
N 27
9
225
296.2
4
225
296.2
4
225
284.4
3
225
179.2
8
222
260.4
2
9.3
225
255.9
5
87
7
1
9
216
75.4
6
23.3
34
30.
866
33
18
219
81.2
7
12.6
6
251
143.0
9
132.0
10
120
1.4
3
0.9
2
3
6
6.8
12
8.4
12
20.8 13.
45 30
87
% 46.6
N 18
8.
9.
5.3
99
27
9.8
15
93
_
—
3
17.3
15
24
102
2.7
6
40.0
45
45
225
113.2
P = < 0.05, Table X 2 = 9.5
Table 2 above shows that items 1, 2, 3. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 on the questionnaire
identifying 10 effects, of home accidents on the family as a whole, reflect positive
response levels and values ranging from 90.7 percent for item 5 to 61.1% for item 6.
The Table also shows the chi-square analysis of the opinions of the respondents
listed for the effects of home accidents. The analysis showed that the data
obtained were significant for each factor at 0.05 'level of confidence, with 4df and a
table value of 9.5.
On close analysis, the effects of home accidents specified in Table 2 can be
categorized into three groups. Items 1 to 6 deal with effects having physical
implications on the victims. Everybody is aware of the result of anaemia that may
result from item 1 which renders the victim weak and less resistant to attack of
diseases. Items 2 to 5 have the common characteristic of rendering the victims
handicapped -because they are not capable of unhindered movement, either
because of the growth of lesions, heamatoma; oesus or broken bones, general pain
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
and weakness (Horn's 1978). All of these have unforetold economic, emotional and
psychological implications in the long run.
Item 8 falls into the second group. Frequent emotional stress and
unhappiness have been known to precipitate or trigger off hypertension known to
be one of the major slow killer diseases (Anderson 1970). By implication, home
accidents when too frequent lead to untimely and painful death. Equally, the data
provided in the table support results of similar studies carried put in some other
parts of the world that home accidents have-as its effect, adverse monetary
implications (Bolton et al., 1963). Unplanned for expenses and waste of much
needed pennies scored very high in the respondents' view 82.7 percent of
respondents endorsed this fact. Loss of money results most probably in the light of
item 10 on Table 2 which started that poor attendance at school and work may
6e traced to after-effect of accidents leading to incapability to function to the best
of one's ability. This factor ranked highest in the opinion of respondents.
On the whole, the home is deprived of happiness, viability and joy when one
of its members has fallen victim of an accident. Again all the identified effects of
home accidents were found to be significant at 0.05 level of confidence.
CONCLUSION
The paper looked at a few previous studies to aid developing a theoretical
basis for the study. Effort was made to identify the causes and effects of home
accidents in Nigerian homes. The study revealed that home accidents are a common
occurrence in Nigeria. The assumption that home accidents occur to people
who stay long hours at home was refuted by the study. Also, it was shown by the
study that though occurrence of home accidents in Nigeria ranked next to road
accidents, accidents in Nigerian homes ranked highest in occurrence of non -fatal
accidents among the four main forms of accidents reported. Ranking highest on the
causes of home accidents in Nigeria was poor education, ignorance and lack of
adequate instruction on safe family-living and handling of home appliance.
The effects of home accidents found to be relevant to Nigerian homes were
categorised into three, viz:
(a) Physical and physiological effects on the victim;
(b) Emotional and psychological effects on victim, parents, brothers and
sisters;
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
(c) Monetary and financial effects on the family through absenteeism from
school and work.
Based on the findings of the study, it could be concluded that home accidents
caused by any of the identified causes, bring along with them a generally unpleasant
and unhappy atmosphere in the homes.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings of the study and response of respondents, the following
recommendations are made as measures against the occurrence of home accidents
in Nigeria:
1.
Education for home safety and handling of home appliances should form a
prominent aspect of health instruction in schools, colleges, and at adult
education levels.
2
Proper lighting of the family premises.
3.
Proper supervision of children at play.
4.
Since legislation against the use of gas cookers, electric cookers and Washing
machines will be unpopular, a high power media propaganda should be
mounted by the government and the petro-chemical and electrical industries on
proper use of these highly explosive and fire catching home devises.
REFERENCES
Adesanya, A.O., First aid and safety education in contemporary Nigeria, conference
paper at the 7th Annual Conference of School health association, Enugu,
Anambara State, 1984.
Anderson, C:L., Health Principles and Practice, C.V. Mosby 6th edition, 1970, Pages
313-325.
Anderson, C.L., Community Health, St. Louis, C.V. Mosby Coy., 1973.
Bolton, W.W., Foster, J.O., Nicollas, J.S., Your Health Today and Tomorrow,
Health and Physical fitriess laid Law Brothers, 1963.
Chernoweth, L.S., and Selkirk, T.K., School Health Problems, Appleton Century
Crofts, 4th Edition, 1953.
Florio, A.E., and Stafford, G.T., Safety Education, N.Y., McGraw-Hill Book Company,
1969.
Hollis, F.T., Special Physical Education: Adapted, Corrective, Developmental, 4th
edition, W.B. Sainders Company, London, 1978, Pages 101-165.
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. 1. June 1985
Udoh, C.O., Measures for the prevention of Automobile Accidents on Nigerian Roads,
Conference paper at the 7th Annual Conference of School Health Association,
Enugu, Anambra. State, 1984.