10 YEARS OF EXPERIENCES FROM A PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITY-BASED INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAM IN MOTALA, SWEDEN

Exploratory studies in the Scandinavian countries have suggested that the national cost of unintentional injuries is equal to 4% of the Gros s National Product (GNP). One way for Swedish society to handle this s ituation has been through community-based injury prevention programs. This study used action research methods to supplement the understandin g of the community development for injury prevention. The aim of this paper is to present the participative model used in one of the first o f these programs, the Motala Injury Prevention Program, and lessons le arned from the first 10 years of its operation. The program 'succeeded ' in 1993, when Motala Municipality formed a regular Safety Board chai red by the Municipal Commissioner. There are five main messages from t he initial phases of the program: a community-based injury prevention program has to be regarded as a long-term project; preferably over mor e than a 10 year period, economic calculations are important in the co mmunity analysis phase of the program, inter-linkage between community organizations is essential in the design phase, the hand-over from th e initial program developers to practitioners is critical in the imple mentation phase, it is important to maintain a high-quality data colle ction routine even after the conclusion of the community analysis phas e of the program. These observations have a potential to be valid at l east for Northern Europe, which, by comparison with other parts of the world is a relatively homogenous area with regard to external causes of injuries. Regarding other communities, there are known differences in injury rates and community organization.