Date of Graduation

2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

Committee Chair

Christina D. Adams

Abstract

Burns from hot food and liquid account for 100,000 burns in children each year. The current research targets a high burn risk environment, restaurants, in order to examine server knowledge about burn prevention and burn care with customers. Participants included 71 local restaurant servers and 53 servers from various restaurants who were recruited from undergraduate courses at West Virginia University. All participants completed a brief demographic form as well as a Burn Knowledge Questionnaire. It was found that server knowledge was low (i.e., around 50% accuracy). Yet, most servers reported that they felt customer burn safety was important enough to change the way that they serve. Additionally, it was found that “length of time serving” was a significant predictor of servers’ burn knowledge (i.e., more years serving associated with higher knowledge). In contrast, level of education, witnessing a burn in the kitchen, witnessing a burn in the dining room, or having children were not significant predictors of burn knowledge. Finally, individual items were examined to identify potential targets for developing prevention programs.

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