Definition of safety measures against home accidents for mothersof 0-6 years old children applying to emergency department due tohome accidents and their relationship with mothers' selfefficiency

The purpose of this descriptive study is to identify the safety measures taken by mothers of children aged 0-6 who were admitted to the emergency department due to a home accident, to determine their self-efficacy level, to examine the relationship between these two variables, and to identify the factors affecting these variables. The population of this study consists of mothers of children aged 0-6 who were admitted to the emergency department of Akçakale State Hospital with complaints of home accidents. The sample of the study consists of 340 mothers and children who were admitted to the emergency department between October 15, 2024, and April 7, 2025, and who agreed to participate in the study. The research data were collected using a questionnaire prepared by the researchers, parent self-efficacy scales, and scales for identifying safety measures for home accidents among mothers of children aged 0-6 years. The obtained data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics v.22.0 software, employing descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests to assess the significance of differences in continuous variables, and one-way ANOVA tests. To determine the source of differences among the three groups, Duncan's post hoc test was conducted. Pearson correlation was used to assess the relationship between the two scales. A p-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant for all analyses. The average age of mothers participating in the study was calculated as 29.91±6.029, and 62.6% were found to be 30 years old or younger. While 32.9% of the mothers had a high school education or higher, 62.6% were not employed in a job that generated income. It was determined that 68.2% of the children who had experienced a home accident were male, and 45.0% were 3 or 4 years old (X̄±Ss= 2.214±0.71). When looking at the reasons for seeking emergency care, the most common complaint was falls (62.9%), while the least common complaints were poisoning and drowning (7.9%). The average parental self-efficacy scale score for mothers was calculated as 82.8±17.9, with the lowest score being 22 and the highest score being 112. In the average score of the scale measuring mothers' awareness of safety precautions against home accidents in children aged 0-6, mothers scored 89.7±22.23, with the lowest score being 46 and the highest being 144. When the correlation between these two scales was examined, a weak negative relationship was observed (p<0.05). It was determined that factors such as mothers' education, employment status, monthly income, type of home, child's age, reason for emergency room visit, and where the child plays affect mothers' selfefficacy and ability to identify home accidents (p<0.05). As a result, it is recommended that maternal self-efficacy be increased and that awareness programs be implemented for mothers and the community in general regarding home and environmental safety in order to prevent accidents in the home that negatively affect children's health. KEYWORDS: Home Accidents, Children Aged 0-6, Maternal Self-efficacy, Protection, Prevention