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Housing as a Determinant of Tongan Children’s Health: Innovative Methodology Using Wearable Cameras

Housing is a significant determinant of health, particularly in developing countries such as Tonga. Currently, very little is known about the quality of the housing in Tonga, as is the case with many developing countries, nor about the interaction between children and the home environment. This stud...

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Autores principales: Robinson, Andrew, Hulme-Moir, Sarah, Puloka, Viliami, Smith, Moira, Stanley, James, Signal, Louise
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5664671/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28976919
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101170
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author Robinson, Andrew
Hulme-Moir, Sarah
Puloka, Viliami
Smith, Moira
Stanley, James
Signal, Louise
author_facet Robinson, Andrew
Hulme-Moir, Sarah
Puloka, Viliami
Smith, Moira
Stanley, James
Signal, Louise
author_sort Robinson, Andrew
collection PubMed
description Housing is a significant determinant of health, particularly in developing countries such as Tonga. Currently, very little is known about the quality of the housing in Tonga, as is the case with many developing countries, nor about the interaction between children and the home environment. This study aimed to identify the nature and extent of health risk factors and behaviours in Tongan houses from a child’s perspective. An innovative methodology was used, Kids’Cam Tonga. Seventy-two Class 6 children (10 to 13-year-olds) were randomly selected from 12 randomly selected schools in Tongatapu, the main island. Each participating child wore a wearable camera on lanyards around their neck. The device automatically took wide-angled, 136° images of the child’s perspective every seven seconds. The children were instructed to wear the camera all day from Friday morning to Sunday evening, inclusive. The analysis showed that the majority of Tongan children in the study live in houses that have structural deficiencies and hazards, including water damage (42%), mould (36%), and electrical (89%) and burn risk factors (28%). The findings suggest that improvements to the housing stock may reduce the associated health burden and increase buildings’ resilience to natural hazards. A collaborative approach between communities, community leaders, government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is urgently needed. This research methodology may be of value to other developing countries.
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spelling pubmed-56646712017-11-06 Housing as a Determinant of Tongan Children’s Health: Innovative Methodology Using Wearable Cameras Robinson, Andrew Hulme-Moir, Sarah Puloka, Viliami Smith, Moira Stanley, James Signal, Louise Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Housing is a significant determinant of health, particularly in developing countries such as Tonga. Currently, very little is known about the quality of the housing in Tonga, as is the case with many developing countries, nor about the interaction between children and the home environment. This study aimed to identify the nature and extent of health risk factors and behaviours in Tongan houses from a child’s perspective. An innovative methodology was used, Kids’Cam Tonga. Seventy-two Class 6 children (10 to 13-year-olds) were randomly selected from 12 randomly selected schools in Tongatapu, the main island. Each participating child wore a wearable camera on lanyards around their neck. The device automatically took wide-angled, 136° images of the child’s perspective every seven seconds. The children were instructed to wear the camera all day from Friday morning to Sunday evening, inclusive. The analysis showed that the majority of Tongan children in the study live in houses that have structural deficiencies and hazards, including water damage (42%), mould (36%), and electrical (89%) and burn risk factors (28%). The findings suggest that improvements to the housing stock may reduce the associated health burden and increase buildings’ resilience to natural hazards. A collaborative approach between communities, community leaders, government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is urgently needed. This research methodology may be of value to other developing countries. MDPI 2017-10-04 2017-10 /pmc/articles/PMC5664671/ /pubmed/28976919 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101170 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Robinson, Andrew
Hulme-Moir, Sarah
Puloka, Viliami
Smith, Moira
Stanley, James
Signal, Louise
Housing as a Determinant of Tongan Children’s Health: Innovative Methodology Using Wearable Cameras
title Housing as a Determinant of Tongan Children’s Health: Innovative Methodology Using Wearable Cameras
title_full Housing as a Determinant of Tongan Children’s Health: Innovative Methodology Using Wearable Cameras
title_fullStr Housing as a Determinant of Tongan Children’s Health: Innovative Methodology Using Wearable Cameras
title_full_unstemmed Housing as a Determinant of Tongan Children’s Health: Innovative Methodology Using Wearable Cameras
title_short Housing as a Determinant of Tongan Children’s Health: Innovative Methodology Using Wearable Cameras
title_sort housing as a determinant of tongan children’s health: innovative methodology using wearable cameras
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5664671/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28976919
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101170
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