The Canadian Injury Prevention Curriculum (CIPC) is the only curriculum designed to provide practitioners with an understanding of the theory and practice of injury prevention, including the tools needed to develop and implement effective programs. This unique resource is based on Canadian content and features an interactive curriculum.

The CIPC is meant for adult learners who develop, implement or evaluate programs aimed at reducing the frequency and severity of both intentional and unintentional injury.

CIPC History

Through the cooperation and funding of Health Canada, the Canadian Injury Prevention and Control Curriculum development project was carried out over a three-year period between 1999 and 2002. 

The overall direction of the project was the joint responsibility of the Alberta Centre for Injury Control & Research (ACICR) and Plan-it Safe: child & youth injury prevention centre of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO).  The project’s advisory group consisted of the members of the Canadian Collaborative Centres on Injury Prevention and Control (CCCIPC).

In addition to increasing the number of individuals prepared with the same basic understanding, it was expected that such common grounding would enhance inter-sectoral collaboration.

The development process for the curriculum included, firstly, conducting a needs assessment of injury prevention practitioners across Canada to determine the target audience for the curriculum, and secondly, an environmental scan to determine and review existing injury prevention curricula available nationally and internationally.

Writers were then hired to compile and develop the content of the curriculum and an initial draft version was piloted during a 3-day workshop in eight locations across the country.  With feedback gathered from both facilitators and participants, revisions were made to the curriculum for the development of the first edition.

In addition to pilot-testing the workshop materials, a facilitator training session was held in order to prepare facilitators in adult learning models and to allow them to gain familiarity with the content of the curriculum, as well as to offer an overview of the possible uses of the workshop.

The Quebec representatives on the advisory group led the translation of the first edition of the curriculum so that the workshop could be presented in Canada’s two official languages.

In October of 2007 the Canadian Collaborative Centres for Injury Prevention and Control (CCCIPC) decided to change their name to the Canadian Collaborating Centres for Injury Prevention (CCCIP).   Around the same time, and as the course progressed and the facilitators gained field experience, there arose a need to review the content of the curriculum in order to reflect the valuable insights that had been learned.  The CCCIP designated a few of its members as the Revisions Committee to ensure continuous applicability and relevance of the curriculum to the field of injury prevention.

In June 2009, the Revisions Committee produced the 2nd edition.  The present revised edition has also tightened its focus and reduced the number of lessons from ten to six by integrating the core issues of the last four lessons into the main body, thus allowing the course to be efficiently taught in two days’ time.  New case scenarios, case studies and a social marketing piece have also been added as well as an expanded section of appendices.

On July 23, 2015 in Edmonton, Alberta, a group came together to discuss the plan to update the CIPC and formed the CIPC Revisions Committee comprised of representatives from:

• The Canadian Collaborating Centres for Injury Prevention

• The Principle Investigators from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Child & Youth STAIR Team

• The Canadian Injury Prevention Trainee Network

The current CIPC is the result of this work.