The effect of a community crash reenactment program on teen alcohol awareness and behavior.

Background: Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are the leading cause of death in US teens, encompassing greater than one in three deaths. Mock crash reenactments have been used to promote awareness in communities about the effects of drinking and driving.  The majority of these programs are for alcohol injury prevention, target high school students, and often involve a scenario of a student driving while under the influence (DUI) and sustaining a fatal car crash. Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a regional mock crash reenactment upon the students' drinking and driving knowledge and behaviors. Methods: An observational pre-post study was conducted.  The survey had seven five-point Likert-scale questions (1 being strongly disagree and 5 strongly agree) measuring outcomes. Students were surveyed before and after the crash reenactment concerning their knowledge and attitudes related to drinking and driving. The survey also included questions that queried participant's age, gender, alcohol consumption history, and seatbelt usage. Results: The final study population included 947 pre-surveys and 840 post-surveys.  Students demonstrated no significant increase in knowledge-based drinking and driving questions.  However, after the reenactment program, students were 1.39 times less likely to report drinking and driving in the future or that they would get into a car with someone who would drive drunk. Students were 1.7 times more likely to report thinking about the risks associated with drinking and driving after participating in the program. Conclusion: After viewing a mock crash reenactment, students reported they were less likely to drink and drive in the future or get into a car with someone who would drive drunk, and were more likely often think the risks associated with drinking and driving.

Exergaming for Health: A Randomized Study of Community-Based Exergaming Curriculum in Pediatric Weight Management.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness and sustainable impact of a multifaceted community-based weight intervention program for children, including exergaming curriculum. METHODS: Eighty overweight or obese children, aged 8-12 years, were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to an Exergaming for Health intervention group, comprising both exergaming and classroom curriculum, or to a control group with classroom curriculum alone. Outcome measures included body mass index (BMI), z-score change, and shuttle runs to assess cardiorespiratory endurance. RESULTS: Fifty-nine participants took part in the intervention and 21 in the control group, with 35 and 13 completing 6-month follow-up, respectively. Twenty-eight intervention children were followed-up at 1 year. At the end of the 6-month intervention, the intervention group reduced its BMI z-score by -0.06 (±0.12) compared to 0 (±0.09) change for the control group; additionally, intervention subjects were two shuttle runs higher than control. However, these differences were not statistically significant (P = 0.07 and P = 0.09, respectively). Over the 6-month period after the program, the intervention group did not have an increase in weight status (BMI z-score change -0.01 [95% confidence interval -0.08 to +0.06], P = 0.76). CONCLUSIONS: Use of exergaming in community pediatric weight management did not improve weight status at the end of programming, and study implementation was limited by small sample and missing data. However, there were clinically promising trends in fitness, screen time, and caloric intake. Weight status of intervention participants did not rebound 6 months after programming. Larger, longer term studies are needed to establish the impact of videogaming interventions.

Death before disco: the effectiveness of a musical metronome in layperson cardiopulmonary resuscitation training.

BACKGROUND: A novel musical memory aid has been proposed for aiding laypersons in complying with the American Heart Association (AHA) cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines of 100 compressions per minute (cpm). OBJECTIVE: This study tested usefulness of such a memory aid to improve layperson long-term compliance with CPR compression rate guidelines. METHODS: A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted using CPR-untrained laypersons. Subjects received either a standard CPR educational experience (AHA Heartsaver® CPR class) or an experimental CPR educational experience (AHA Heartsaver® CPR class augmented with a musical metronome). Experimental group subjects were taught to perform compressions to the cadence of a pop music song (The Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive"; Saturday Night Fever, The Original Movie Soundtrack; Polygram International Music, 1977) with a tempo of 100 beats/min. Compression rates, depth of compressions, and correct compressions were measured initially and upon retesting ≥6 weeks post-training. RESULTS: Control subjects had a higher mean compression rate both immediately (121 [standard deviation {SD} = 21] vs. 109 [SD = 15] cpm; 95% confidence interval [CI] of mean difference 4-19; p = 0.002) and at follow-up (120 [SD = 20] vs. 111 [SD = 13] cpm; 95% CI of mean difference 2-16; p = 0.014). Compression rates stratified to 100-120 cpm demonstrated no difference between groups initially (39% vs. 48%; p = 0.382), but more experimental subjects maintained these rates at follow-up (43% vs. 74%; p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Subjects trained to use a musical metronome more often maintained a compression rate of 100-120 cpm at ≥6-week follow-up, suggesting the memory aid may improve long-term guideline adherence.