Motor vehicle-related injuries kill more children age 1-9 in the U.S. than all other causes combined. One of the prevalent risk behaviours associated with such injuries is the non-use of child safety seats. Programs that promote child safety seat use offer an important preventive measure to reduce the rates of childhood motor vehicle injury and fatality. To address this problem, the Task Force on Community Preventive Services completed a systematic review of the literature examining the effectiveness of interventions to increase the use of child safety seats. This presentation describes the evidence of effectiveness and recommendations for community interventions to improve the use of child safety seats.
The systematic review of studies was conducted using the methodology developed for the Guide to Community Preventive Services. Of the 78 studies identified, 35 met the quality criteria for inclusion in the review. Outcomes of interest included possession and use of child restraint devices. On the basis of evidence of effectiveness, the Task Force strongly recommended child safety seat legislation and recommended community-wide information and enforcement campaigns, child safety seat distribution and education programs, and incentive and education programs. The Task Force found insufficient evidence to assess effectiveness or recommend education-only programs.
The findings show that interventions combining distribution with education, enforcement with education, and incentives with education are effective means to increase child safety seat use. Communities can use these results to inform or strengthen public policy and as a basis for developing programs tailored to address local needs.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to: 1. Describe the systematic revies of the effectiveness of child safety seat promotion intervenitons. 2. Describe the child safety seat promotion interventions that are recommended by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. 3. Describe how the recommendations are used to effect public policy and practice.
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.