Evaluation of a mobile safety center's impact on pediatric home safety behaviors.

BACKGROUND: A Mobile Safety Center (MSC) provides safety resources to families to prevent pediatric injury. The primary objective of this study was to assess the impact of an MSC on home safety behaviors. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study with 50 parents and guardians recruited at community events attended by an MSC. Participants completed a pre-test assessing demographics and home safety behaviors prior to participating in the MSC's home safety educational program. We conducted follow-up with participants 4 weeks (follow-up 1) and 6 months (follow-up 2) after their visit to the MSC to reassess home safety behaviors. We used descriptive statistics in addition to Friedman, Wilcoxon sum-rank, and Fisher's exact testing to analyze respondent demographics and changes in home safety practices. Friedman and Wilcoxon sum-rank testing was performed only for participants who completed all surveys. RESULTS: Of our 50 participants, 29 (58%) completed follow-up 1, 30 (60%) completed follow-up 2, and 26 (52%) completed both. Participants were more likely to have a fire-escape plan at follow-up 1 than on the pre-test (p = 0.014). They were also more likely to have the Poison Control Hotline number accessible in their cellphone or near a home phone at follow-up 1 compared to the pre-test (p = 0.002) and follow-up 2 compared to the pre-test (p < 0.001). Families with at least one household member who smoked or used e-cigarettes at any point during the study (n = 16 for the total population, n = 9 for those who completed both surveys) were less likely to have more than two smoke detectors installed at home during the pre-test (p = 0.049). However, this significantly changed across timepoints (p = 0.018), and while 44.4% reported more than two detectors during the pre-test, 88.9% reported this at both follow-ups. CONCLUSIONS: Home safety education through an MSC positively changed some reported safety behaviors and maintained these changes at long-term follow-up. By encouraging the adoption of better home safety practices, education at an MSC may decrease pediatric injury rates.

Evaluation of a mobile safety center's impact on pediatric home safety knowledge and device use.

BACKGROUND: A Mobile Safety Center (MSC) is designed to remove financial accessibility barriers to home safety by providing education and safety devices within local communities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of an MSC on pediatric home safety knowledge and device use. METHODS: We conducted a prospective home safety interventional study. Parents and grandparents with children at home were recruited at community events attended by the MSC. Participants completed a pre-test survey assessing demographics and current home safety knowledge, practices, and device use. Participants then attended the MSC's short home safety educational program. Afterwards, participants completed a knowledge reassessment post-test and were offered free safety devices: a smoke detector, a gun lock, and a childproofing kit comprising outlet covers, doorknob covers, and cabinet latches. We administered two follow-up surveys four weeks and six months after visiting the MSC. Descriptive statistics, Friedman tests, Wilcoxon Sum-Rank tests, and Pearson Chi-Square were used to assess respondent demographic characteristics and changes in home safety knowledge, practices, and device use. RESULTS: We recruited 50 participants, of whom 29 (58%) completed follow-up 1, 30 (60%) completed follow-up 2, and 26 (52%) completed both. Participants who completed both follow-ups increased total correct answers to safety knowledge questions between the pre-test and post-test (p = 0.005), pre-test and follow-up 1 (p = 0.003), and pre-test and follow-up 2 (p = 0.012) with no significant changes between the post-test, follow-up 1, and follow-up 2. Of the respondents who reported accepting safety products, outlet covers were used most frequently, followed by the smoke detector, doorknob covers, cabinet latches, and the gun lock. CONCLUSIONS: The MSC may be an effective means of increasing home safety among families with children, as participation in the MSC's home safety educational program significantly increased home safety knowledge and spurred home safety device use. Implementation of MSCs could potentially reduce childhood injury rates within communities through promotion of home safety.

Teenagers--we thought we knew--we didn't--lessons learned.

BACKGROUND: Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and disability to teenagers in the United States. The development of resources to assist physicians and high school teachers in anticipatory guidance of adolescent drivers and their parents provides a way to disseminate important information. As adults with years of experience working with teens in a variety of settings, we hypothesized we would have similar responses to a standardized message as teenagers themselves. METHODS: Convenience-based focus groups of teens and adults evaluated the resource materials and their responses were collected. The adult group was made up of trauma, injury prevention and school staff, the teen group was made of students in random familiar settings (school programs, sports events, and mall). Each group was asked to evaluate three posters and select the one most likely to attract the attention of a teen and be most effective at supporting positive driving behavior. Seat belt usage was the primary message of all three posters. RESULTS: Teens and adults have dramatically different responses to the posters. The primary choice of the adults was never selected by the teens and the primary choice of the adolescents was never the choice of the adults. Interestingly, both groups agreed that one of the posters was ineffective. CONCLUSION: Experience with adolescents does not necessarily result in successful prediction of teen choices. The focus group experience gives the teen a voice in the process and ensures the message being sent is the one being received. Involving teens in development of educational materials targeted at this population is critical for successful implementation.