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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Jennifer Greenberg-Seth, MS, Harvard University School of Public Health, Harvard Injury Control Research Center, 718 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, 617-432-6586, jgreenbe@hsph.harvard.edu
“Kids in the Back” is a 3-year project to decrease the number of motor vehicle injuries and fatalities to children under 12 by promoting rear seating in a low-income and Latino community. A community task force shaped intervention activities, which included educational, incentive, and publicity components. The program followed a quasi-experimental design with one intervention and two control sites. Impact evaluation measurements included roadside observations of cars and brief and in-depth driver interviews. At baseline 4,200 cars transporting children were observed for child seating arrangements. At least one child was observed riding in the front seat 67% of the time in the intervention community, and 76% and 68% of the time respectively in the control communities. Male drivers were less likely to wear seatbelts and more likely to have children in front. Brief driver interviews revealed that most drivers know that the back seat is safer than the front seat (91%). Only 52% of drivers know the age recommendations for rear seating. Inconsistencies between reporting and actual behavior were evident. Preliminary results from post-intervention measurements show a decrease in child front seating in both the intervention community (20%) and in Control A (15%). Post intervention results from Control B and brief driver interviews will also be presented. Explanations for similar post intervention reductions in the two communities include child passenger safety activities in the control community, general media exposure, and low penetration rate in the intervention community after one year.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.