ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Leading causes of unintentional child injury such as poisoning and falls are preventable, and the majority occur in the home. Numerous home safety interventions have been developed and tested to increase safety behaviors; however, no smart phone-based applications (apps) have been developed and evaluated for this purpose. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether a mobile technology-based health behavior change intervention, the Make Safe Happen® app, was an effective tool to increase safety knowledge and safety actions/behaviors for the prevention of child unintentional injuries in and around the home. METHODS: Data were collected in pretest and posttest online surveys from an existing nationwide population-based survey panel. Intervention subjects were randomized to organically (participant-driven) use the Make Safe Happen® app for 1 week, which provided home safety information and the ability to purchase safety products, while control participants were assigned to download and use an app about a topic other than home safety. The primary outcomes of safety knowledge and home safety actions were assessed by using linear mixed model regressions with intention-to-treat analyses. RESULTS: A total of 5032 participants were randomized to either the intervention (n = 4182) or control (n = 850) group, with 2055 intervention participants downloading and entering their participant IDs into the Make Safe Happen® app. The online posttest survey was completed by 770 intervention and 283 control subjects. Mean knowledge parent safety score increased at a greater rate for intervention than control subjects (p < 0.0001), and at posttest was significantly higher for intervention than control subjects (p < 0.0001). The percentage of intervention subjects who reported doing all one-time and repeated safety actions significantly increased from pretest to posttest (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively), but there was no change among the control subjects (p = 0.1041 and p = 0.9755, respectively). At posttest, this percentage was larger for intervention than control subjects only for repeated safety actions (p = 0.0340). CONCLUSIONS: The mobile application significantly improved safety knowledge and safety actions for participants using the Make Safe Happen® app, although loss to follow-up was a limitation. The results of this study indicate the usefulness of widespread distribution and use of the Make Safe Happen® app. Trial registration number NCT02751203 ; Registered April 26, 2016.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Nearly half of the unintentional injuries in children happen in and around the home; many of these injuries are preventable. Providing parents and caregivers with proper injury prevention information that is easily accessible may help them make their homes safer for children. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate parental injury prevention awareness and home safety behaviors, motivations for and challenges to taking injury prevention and safety actions for parents as well as user experience following the use of the Make Safe Happen mobile app. METHODS: A total of 40 parents with children aged 0-12 years living in Columbus, Ohio, participated in 1 of 5 focus group discussions following the completion of (1) a pretest survey, (2) use of the Make Safe Happen app, and (3) a posttest survey. RESULTS: Following the use of the Make Safe Happen app, parents reported a significant increase in injury prevention awareness and completed 45% more home safety behaviors in and around their homes. Nearly all of the parents felt the app provided them with the information needed to make their home safer for their children; the great majority of parents intended to make such changes in the future. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection allowed for rich data capture and provided a deeper understanding of parents' safety knowledge, behaviors, app use, and decision making regarding child injury prevention in and around the home. The Make Safe Happen app provides the information and motivation parents and caregivers need to help them take steps to prevent child injuries that may occur in and around their homes.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Many unintentional injuries that occur in and around the home can be prevented through the use of safety equipment and by consistently following existing safety recommendations. Unfortunately, uptake of these safety behaviors is unacceptably low. This paper describes the design of the Make Safe Happen® smartphone application evaluation study, which aims to evaluate a mobile technology-based safety behavior change intervention on parents' safety knowledge and actions. METHODS: Make Safe Happen® app evaluation study is a randomized controlled trial. Participants will be parents of children aged 0-12 years who are recruited from national consumer online survey panels. Parents will complete a pretest survey, and will be randomized to receive the Make Safe Happen® app or a non-injury-related app, and then complete a posttest follow-up survey after 1 week. Primary outcomes are: (1) safety knowledge; (2) safety behaviors; (3) safety device acquisition and use, and (4) behavioral intention to take safety actions. RESULTS: Anticipated study results are presented. CONCLUSIONS: Wide-reaching interventions, to reach substantial parent and caregiver audiences, to effectively reduce childhood injuries are needed. This study will contribute to the evidence-base about how to increase safety knowledge and actions to prevent home-related injuries in children. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02751203 ; Pre-results.
