The major objectives of this study were to identify critical safety hazards, safety precautions practiced by older adults, and the factors that would assist older adults in preventing accidents in their residential environment and to examine the relationship between these safety practices and selected demographic characteristics of older adults. A personal interview schedule was developed and administered to a random sample of 50 members of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Homemaker's Council, over age 70, in Giles, Montgomery, and Pulaski Counties and the city of Radford. Means, frequencies, and correlations were used to examine the data. The findings revealed that older adults evaluate their home as moderately or extremely safe and they perceive that it is not likely to somewhat likely that hazards exist in their home that could cause an accident. Older adults currently practice an average of 15 out of a possible 20 safety precautions in their home. They are most likely to seek assistance in preventing accidents in their home from family members in the form of routine cleaning. If given the money and assistance to make improvements in the safety of their home, older adults would be interested in installing a secure grab bar in the bathtub or shower, painting or taping the edge of steps in order to see them better, attaching handrails on the stairway, and installing a telephone close to the bed. No significant relationship was found between the older adult's safety hazard perception score, safety precaution score, or factors that would assist older adults in preventing accidents in their residential environment and their health status, accident history, income, or mastery level. / Master of Science

"The purpose of this thesis is to show the general development of safety education in the home, the school, and the community with special reference to the safety program in the Public Schools of Dallas, Texas. In this study of the general development of safety education the writer has treated the problem in the following divisions: (1) History of the safety movement (2) Safety education (3) Public safety education (4) Safety program in Dallas (5) Home safety (6) School safety and (7) Safety program in the Dallas Public Schools. Special consideration was given to the safety program of the Public Schools of Dallas "-- leaf 1.