Aim of the project:

To raise awareness of children copying aggressive or potentially dangerous behaviour from television (and from computers) throughout Hertfordshire.

To raise parents awareness about accidents to young children in the home.

The Mr Copycat resource package is aimed to:

• Raise awareness of young children of the dangers of copying aggressive behaviour from T.V
• Raise awareness of parents of young children of the dangers of children copying aggressive behaviour from T.V
• Encourage parents to supervise and screen potential violent programmes
• Produce 100 resource packs within Hertfordshire and evaluate before investigating spreading the pack nation-wide

The project produces a number of Mr Copycat resources which can be used by professionals targeting parents with young children in small group settings e.g.;

• Health Visitors
• School Nurses
• Nursery Leaders
• Playground Leaders
• Under 5's Officers

The Mr Copycat resource pack includes:

• Mr Copycat puppet, which is used in conjunction with an A3 story presentation;
• Mr Copycat display, which is a series of 3 posters, 2 banners and a cut-out of Mr Copycat, which is suitable for promoting Mr Copycat's messages in venues where parents' and children's groups meet;
• Laminated A3 flow chart, alerting parents of the need to screen potentially violent T.V. programmes;
• A4 laminated master colouring sheet; in conjunction with the story presentation, the children will be given a colouring sheet to reinforce Mr Copycat's messages at home;
• Carry case

In 1995 the package was used as part of a pilot study at local Parent and Toddler Groups and in a Nursery. The general feedback was very positive and parents were anxious to see it develop further. At this stage, the Hertfordshire Accident Prevention Group recognised the potential of such a worthwhile initiative and agreed to work with the Initial Project Team to facilitate the development and evaluation of the Mr Copycat resource

Objectives and expectations:

The learning package is intended to;

• Raise awareness of young children of the dangers of copying aggressive or potentially dangerous behaviour from television (and from computers);
• Enable parents to identify potential dangers to young children of copying behaviour;
• Encourage parents to supervise and screen potentially violent programmes;

Target / Client Group:

Mr Copycat can be used by professionals targeting parents with young children in small group settings e.g.;

• Health Visitors
• School Nurses
• Nursery Leaders
• Playgroup Leaders
• Under 5's Officers

Age Range :

This learning package can be used with small groups or on a one to one basis and is intended for use with 3-7 year old children dependent upon their development.

Target Area / Location / setting:

Hertfordshire

Start Date of Project / Initiative (month / year):

January 2001 (Development started in 1995)

End Date of Project / Initiative(month / year):

Ongoing

Partners involved in Project:

The main partners in the project were;

Hertfordshire Accident Prevention Group; Established in April 1994 the Group represents Hertfordshire County Council; all District and Borough Councils; Hertfordshire Health Authorities; NHS Trusts and the University of Hertfordshire.

In conjunction with the following partners;

Health Visitors from West Herts Community Health NHS Trust;

East Hertfordshire NHS Trust;

St Albans & Harpenden Primary Care Trust;

Hertfordshire Health Authority.

How was the need / gap for this work identified:

This project was the winner of the County Award For Good Practice in Accident Prevention for Primary Health Care Teams in 1995, which was arranged by the Hertfordshire Accident Prevention Group. The Initial Project Team consists of health visitors within a G.P's practice surgery in Hemel Hempstead.

Accidents in the home are the biggest single cause of injury in the country. Each year about 4,000 people die and 3 million need medical attention following accidents in the home. Approximately a quarter of all accidents happen to the under 5's. It is one of the four national priorities in the health strategy for England 'Saving Lives : Our Healthier Nation' (DoH 1999), the target being to reduce the death rate from accidents by at least a fifth and reduce the rate of serious injury from accidents by at least a tenth by 2010. One identified priority group to target is children.

The 1996 Health Survey for England estimated that the annual accident rate among children aged 2 to 15 was 31 for every 100 boys and 22 for every 100 girls (Prescott-Clarke et al 1998). The recent Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) Report revealed that approximately 7000 children attended Accident and Emergency per day in 1998. Although we have no specific data for the cost of children’s accidents in the home, the costs of a serious injury requiring treatment in the Accident and Emergency department approximate £1,300 and a hospital admission and 1 years’ rehabilitation costs approximately £150,000 (CAPT 2000).

Children have a spontaneous tendency to imitate the behaviour of others, particularly their favourite television characters (especially from the same sex). (Willis and Strasburger, 1998). Most children are unable to distinguish fact from fantasy, this skill is only fully developed around 11 to 12 years of age. They also lack reasoning abilities and often view the television world as being realistic. Meanwhile, adults may underestimate television’s impact because they know that such programmes are fantasy (Willis and Strasburger 1998).

Recent studies in the USA have demonstrated a relationship between school children’s exposure to violence and their own violent and aggressive behaviours. The role of television is especially important (Singher et al. 1999) Hughes and Noppe (1985) state that watching aggression on television does not necessarily teach such behaviour, but shows that it is acceptable and achievable. They acknowledge that violent behaviour often appears to be rewarded and that rewarded behaviour is the most likely to be copied. Research with nursery school children found that those who watched violent TV programmes were more aggressive in the playground, than those who watched non-violent programmes (Steur et al. 1971).

It could be argued that such copied aggressive behaviour could impress upon children throughout their lives. This may result in anti-social behaviour. In addition it is generally accepted that copying aggressive behaviour from television results in accidents to children.

A small local study, undertaken by the Health Visitors responsible for the idea of Mr Copycat, demonstrated that parents were voicing concern about the violent content of certain programmes on television and that parents recognised that their children were likely to copy such behaviour (Catherall et al. 1995). The study found that 1 in 5 of the children who were part of the study sustained an injury, which their parents directly attributed to the copying of aggressive or dangerous behaviour seen on television.

CONTACT DETAILS

Name: Mr Carlton Lomax

Job Title: Environment and Health Promotions Manager

Address: Hertfordshire Accident Prevention Group,
c/o St Albans City and District Council,
Civic Centre,
St Peters Street,
St Albans,
Hertfordshire
Postcode: AL1 3JE
Telephone: 01727 819455
Fax: 01727 819433
e-mail: c.lomax@stalbans.gov.uk