Prevalence of domestic accidents in kitchen among housewives in an urban area: a cross sectional study.

Background: Domestic accident is an accident which takes place in the home or in its immediate surroundings. Domestic accidents are worldwide public health problems. The study was conducted to know the prevalence of domestic accidents among housewives in the kitchen and to assess the preventive measures practiced against domestic accidents by housewives in the kitchen. Methods: Data was collected from housewives residing at the ur- ban field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, BIMS, Belagavi. By using pre tested structured questionnaire, in- formation like, socio-demographic factors, kitchen environment, domestic accident occurred in kitchen in last six months and safety measures practiced by the housewives was collected. Results: The study found that more than half (51.7%) of the housewives met with one or more types of domestic accidents in past 6 months. Majority of the participants followed safety measures like turning gas cylinder off after cooking (74.2%) & us- ing machineries of the kitchen after reading the instruction manual given along with them (54.5%). Conclusion: Practice regarding safety measures in kitchen was low among the housewives. The problem of domestic accidents can be taken care by effective information, education and commu- nication (IEC) interventions regarding the use of safety measures by housewives.