The leading cause of death for children in North America is vehicle collision, despite advances in vehicle technology and design. Canadian parents use vehicle safety strategies widely (>80%) yet, parents (< 20%) do so accurately and effectively. Pender’s model of health promotion was used as a theoretical guide to develop and test an intervention program for parents and children in four Ontario cities. In the first phase of the study, surveys were distributed through a local school board, 1002 parents reported on their use of vehicle safety strategies for 1773 children. Results revealed widespread misuse of vehicle safety systems for children placing children at risk for serious injury. An intervention program was designed and tested with 300 parents in 4 cities. Pretest-posttest design was used to examine the effectiveness of the intervention program on parents’ knowledge and reported use of vehicle safety systems. Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data indicates that the intervention was highly effective in enhancing parents’ knowledge. Qualitative data described how parents used the intervention materials and their perceptions of the value of the multi-media approach to intervention. Implications for future research will be discussed including the development of a national intervention program which is currently underway.
Session #1195 - Prevention: Beliefs and Interventions
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)