2025 Children's of Alabmama Community Health Needs Assessment

CHILD SAFETY

Issue #1: Substance abuse of caregivers/Screen time/Social media Issue #2: Suicide Issue #3: Firearm injury

Substance abuse tops screen time/social media as the top issue by 1/100 th of a point, meaning they are essentially tied for the top concern. Suicide ranks second, followed by firearm injury. These four issues were the top three concerns for at least 31% of respon dents. Screen time/social media was a top-three issue for 39% of respondents, the largest share. While the healthcare issues and childhood safety questions offered seven and five answers respectively, there are 14 choices for safety. With this large choice of options, responses are more diffuse, leading to higher means. For example, the top health issue and access issues had mean scores of 2.6 and 2.7, respectively. In comparison, the top safety issues have a mean of 5.9. See Table 15.

Table 15. Safety Issues Ranked Rank Issue

Mean Top 3 Count

Top 3%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Substance abuse of caregivers (alcohol/drug/tobacco)

5.9 261 33.5 5.9 306 39.2 6.1 245 31.4 6.5 247 31.7 6.9 190 24.4 6.9 218 27.9 7.2 199 25.5 7.8 142 18.2 8.3 101 12.9

Screen time/social media

Suicide

Firearm injury

Alcohol/drug/tobacco use by children Childcare access, quality, or affordability

Parent education

Car safety

Water safety/drowning

10 11 12 13 14 15

Behavior related to bicycles, motorcycles, or ATVs

8.3 98

12.6

Sleep (amount, quality, safety)

8.5 102 13.1

Teen driving

8.7 78 8.7 85 9.4 59 14.7 9

10

Accidental poison ingestion/exposure

10.9

Sport-related injury/safety

7.6 1.2

Other

n=780

There is slightly more variance among age groups. Thus, the top two safety issues are provided. Firearm injury and suicide are the first or second issue for respondents 44 and under. In contrast, screen time/social media and substance abuse among caregivers are highlighted by older respondents. See Table 16.

Children’s of Alabama, 2025 CHNA

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