In 2002 injury continues to be the leading killer of Canadian children and adults under the age of 44. This past year in Ontario alone every hour of every day, a child experienced a brain injury that required admission to a hospital. 

The incalculable social, emotional and economic costs of injuries and the need for schools to focus on evidence based prevention strategies was the impetus behind the ONF Injury Prevention Research Project. 

Community-based educational programs have been widely recommended as an important strategy for injury prevention. One such program, called Think First for Kids, was developed for children in grades 1, 2, and 3 by a team of health and education professionals.

Dr. Michael Cusimano, a Toronto-based neurosurgeon, has seen and treated thousands of injury cases. Like many others working in the health care field, he believes that it is important to not only treat injuries, but to prevent them from occurring.

Between 1998 and 1999, Dr. Cusimano initiated a pilot study to investigate the effectiveness of this program, involving 15 schools in Peel, Durham, and Toronto School Boards.

Since then, additional research has demonstrated that the TFFK curriculum significantly improves safety knowledge and self-reported behaviour in primary school children. However, whether gains in safety knowledge and changes in behavioural intention actually lead to reduced injury incidence rates over time is still unknown.

Based on these results, our current multi-year evaluation of TFFK in schools across Ontario to determine the short and long term effectiveness of an educational program  was developed. This Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation study has received national and international attention.