Table 2.

Characteristics and conclusions of included systematic reviews.

Authors	Narrative review or meta-analysis	Included study designs*	Review quality (OQAQ)	Dates searched	Language restriction	Age	Interventions	Major relevant conclusions of review
Bass et al. [10]	Narrative review	RCTs, NRCTs	4	May 1964 to July 1991	English	Not reported	Injury prevention counselling in primary care settings	The review supports the inclusion of injury prevention counselling as part of routine health supervision. Primary care-based injury prevention counselling studies indicate beneficial outcomes including decreased hot tap water temperature
DiGuiseppi and Roberts [11]	Narrative review and meta-analysis	RCTs	6	Date of inception to August 1998	None	0–19 years	Individual-level interventions delivered in clinical settings, including primary care and acute care	Individual-level interventions delivered in a clinical setting are a promising way to promote improvements in certain safety practices, including safe hot tap water temperature. Smaller effects were observed in higher quality trials
Elkan et al. [22]	Narrative review and meta-analysis	RCTs, NRCTs, CBAs	5	Date of inception to 1997	Not reported	All ages	British home visiting by health visitors or personnel with responsibilities within the same remit	There was evidence to suggest that home visiting was associated with reductions in the frequency of unintentional injury and prevalence of home hazards. No conclusions specific to scalds prevention
Guyer et al. [23]	Narrative review	Experimental, quasi-experimental	4	1996 to 2007	English	0–5 years	Counselling, safety equipment and home visits delivered by general practitioners, community health workers and paediatricians	Currently available research justifies the implementation of health interventions in the prenatal to preschool period–especially to prevent injuries. No conclusions specific to scalds prevention
Kendrick et al. [24]	Narrative review and meta-analysis	RCTs, NRCTs, CBAs	7	Date of inception to May 2005	None	0–19 years	Individual and group-based parenting interventions	There is some, but not conclusive, evidence that parenting interventions can have a positive effect on both home safety and childhood injury rates. No conclusions specific to scalds prevention
Kendrick et al. [14]	Narrative review and meta-analysis	RCTs, NRCTs, CBAs	7	Date of inception to May 2009	None	0–19 years	Home safety education and provision of safety equipment delivered by health or social care professionals, school teachers, lay workers or voluntary or other organisations in health care settings, schools and homes	There was a lack of evidence that home safety interventions were effective in reducing rates of thermal (fire and scald) injuries. Home safety interventions were effective in increasing having a safe hot tap water temperature
Lyons et al. [25]	Narrative review	RCTs, NRCTs, CBAs, ITS	7	Date of inception to 2002	None	All ages	Reduction of physical hazards in the home by community health workers, trained researchers/volunteers, general practitioners and paediatricians	There is very little high-grade evidence that interventions to modify the home physical environment affect the likelihood of sustaining an injury in the home. No conclusions specific to scalds prevention
Parbhoo et al. [26]	Narrative review	All designs	3	Not reported	English	0–15 years	Any strategy to reduce paediatric burns	The greatest evidence of effectiveness came from multipronged programs of caregiver education, public policy, community monitoring and legislation, supported by repetition of the prevention message in different forms. No conclusions specific to scalds prevention
Pearson et al. [27]	Narrative review	RCTs, NRCTs, CBAs, BAs	5	1990 to 2009	English	0–15 years	Supply and/or installation of home safety equipment and/or home risk assessments delivered by general practitioners, doctors, nurses, research assistants, paediatricians, community health workers and health visitors in various settings	Most studies found no significant reduction in injury with any intervention. No robust evidence for increased use of home safety equipment. Evidence for the effectiveness of home risk assessments alone is weak. The addition of the supply of home safety equipment does not appear to make a substantive difference to their effectiveness. No conclusions specific to scalds prevention
Towner et al. [15]	Narrative review	RCTs, NRCTs, CBAs, BAs	2	1975 to 2000	Not reported	0–14 years	Home inspection, modification and education delivered by paediatricians, local health staff, school staff and community outreach workers in any setting	There is little evidence that educational approaches alone have achieved any reductions in burn and scald injuries. There is little evidence that campaigns involving the distribution of devices to control hot water temperatures are an effective means of reducing water temperatures
Turner et al. [16]	Narrative review	NRCTs, CBAs	7	Date of inception to May 2007	Not reported	0–14 years	Community- based interventions to reduce burns and scalds in children	There is a paucity of research studies in the literature from which practitioners can draw an evidence-base regarding the effectiveness of community-based injury prevention programmes to prevent burns and scalds in children
Turner et al. [28]	Narrative review	RCTs	5	Electronic databases: date of inception to December 2009. Hand searching: May 2009 to May 2010	None	All ages	Physical adaptations to the home environment, including to the building fabric or ‘fixtures and fittings’, installation of grab rails, stair gates, fire-guards, cupboard locks, hot-water tap adaptations and lighting adjustments	None of the studies focusing on children demonstrated a reduction in injuries that might have been due to environmental adaptation in the home. There is very little high-grade evidence that interventions to modify the home physical environment affect the likelihood of sustaining an injury in the home. No conclusions specific to scalds prevention
USPSTF [13]	Narrative review	RCTs, NRCTs, CBAs	2	Searched to May 1995**	English	Not reported	Counselling in clinical settings to prevent household and recreational injuries	Periodic counselling of the parents of children on measures to reduce the risk of unintentional household injuries from hot tap water is recommended
Waters et al. [12]	Narrative review	All designs	3	Not reported	English	0–4 years	Education and environment modification targeted to individuals and communities and applicable to the Australian situation	Changes in legislation are effective in achieving lower hot tap water temperatures and decreasing injuries from scalds. Resource-intensive, large-scale campaigns that encompass a combination of strategies (education, product modification and regulations concerning hot water temperatures) are associated with significant reductions in scald injuries among young children, particularly the more severe injuries

^*RCT = randomised controlled trial, USPSTF = United States Preventive Services Task Force, NRCT = non-randomised controlled trial, CBA = controlled before and after study, BA = uncontrolled before and after study, ITS = interrupted time series design.

^**Search start date not specified.