Prevention of mushroom poisoning of children: effectiveness of a community-based school education programme

A community-based multi-method mushroom poisoning preventionprogramme for young school children was implemented and evaluatedin the Krakow region of Poland in the summer of 1992. The aimof the programme was to increase children's ability to identifypoisonous mushrooms, to correct misconceptions about the toxicityof mushrooms, and to increase children's intentions not to eatwild mushrooms in situations of uncertainty about their originand edibility. The programme included a school training packagefor young school children and a mass-media campaign targetingchildren and their parents. In a pre-test-post-test design,a sample of 693 children from six schools (two from the cityof Krakow, two from towns and two from villages in the vicinity)was involved in the study. After the implementation of the programme,knowledge was strongly increased regarding the characteristicsof the most poisonous mushroom (Amanita phalloides) as wellas the risk of eating this kind of (laminar) mushroom. The strongestincrease in knowledge was found in the youngest age group (6–7years old) from the villages and towns, and the oldest age group(10–11 years old) from the city. Also a substantial reductionwas observed in intentions to eat wild mushrooms in situationsof uncertainty about their origin and edibility.