Els van Meijel

25 Evaluation of the STEPP | Chapter 2 scope to include unintentional injury in general; we believe it is important to evaluate the STEPP for all types of accidents, not just traffic-related ones. Methods Participants Children 8 to 18 years were eligible for inclusion if they survived an accident, were subsequently transported to the hospital by ambulance and underwent a trauma screening in the trauma resuscitation room (trauma room) of the Emergency Department. The standard trauma roomprocedure was as follows: a multi-disciplinary team of medical specialists and nurses made the initial assessment of trauma patients and provided the initial treatment. Patients were referred to the trauma room in cases with a high-energy trauma mechanism involving a risk of severe and/or potentially life-threatening injuries. Excluded were children who were living abroad at the time of the accident, who stayed on Intensive Care Units (pediatric or regular) for more than one week (the inclusion period) or who were incapable of answering the questions or completing the questionnaires due to cognitive limitations. We used the trauma registry systems of the Trauma Surgery and Emergency Departments to identify children eligible for this study. We usually invited children to participate in the study via their parents. One parent of each child was also invited to participate. If children had already been discharged, we phoned and asked for an appointment at home. If children were hospitalized, we first consulted the responsible nurse. In total, 266 children were eligible to participate in the study, of which 105 did not participate (26 could not be contacted, 68 declined to participate, and 11 could not be included in time). The final sample consisted of 161 children and 156 parents. Procedures This study was performed at two academic hospitals in Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Academic Medical Center (AMC) and VU Medical Center (VUmc), both Level I trauma centers. The study was approved by the Medical Ethical Committees of both hospitals. Two researchers (EM, MRG), both psychologists, were involved in the study. One of the researchers explained the study to the children and parents, provided them with