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Active & Safe Central
Active & Safe Central is a web-platform providing information on injury prevention for people of all ages participating in recreational activities
Partner
BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit (BCIRPU)
The Digital Lab
Type of work
Healthcare Information
technology
Overview
Sport Related Safety for Children
The Digital Lab and the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit (BCIRPU) partnered to develop Active & Safe Central. This project aimed to address the major public health challenge of injuries in children’s and youth sports. Specifically, from 2016-2017, over 5,800 children were hospitalized in Canada due to sports injury. Prior to the development of Active & Safe Central there was little research done on how injury prevention studies could be applied to guide public health measures and prevent sports injuries. Active & Safe Central aims to address this gap as a centralized source for spreading children’s safety awareness that everyone can access and learn from.
Research & Design
Evidence-Based Injury Prevention
In partnership, the Digital Lab and the BCIRPU developed the Active & Safe Central website. This platform acts as a centralized resource with evidence-based resources on sports injury prevention for 50+ sports. The collaborative research team from the BCIRPU and the Digital Lab conducted a comprehensive review to provide accurate injury prevention methods for the sports most commonly played in British Columbia.
For each sport or activity highlighted on the platform Active & Safe Central provides:
- An overview of the sport
- Injury statistics
- The potential risks from participating
- Injury prevention methods
- Credible sports safety resources.
The Active & Safe Central platform was developed based on input from key stakeholders including athletes, coaches, parents, and medical professionals. To ensure that the content was easily accessible and engaging to users the Digital Lab team developed custom educational videos on 50+ unique sports and activities along with guides to encourage safe exercise for people of all ages.
Impact
Injury Prevention in Action
The Active & Safe Central website acts as a centralized resource for sports injury prevention. Following the website’s launch, over 22,000 viewers accessed the site in the first year. Dodgeball, wakeboarding, badminton and fencing were the most commonly viewed sports. Among users who participated in a brief research survey:
- 94% agreed that Active & Safe Central is a helpful source
- 94% agreed that they would recommend the website to others
- 87% agreed they will use the recommended injury-prevention strategies.
The platform’s information will continue to improve public health by providing users with evidence-based injury prevention resources.
Canadian Child Safety Report Card
Supporting injury prevention and the implementation of effective safety practices by increasing injury awareness with data visualizations
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