RESUMEN
Motivating parents to take certain safety precautions when traveling with their children remains challenging for advocates. Caregivers of booster-aged children are particularly difficult to reach because they do not consider their children to be of "safety-seat" age and have inherently low perceptions of vulnerability to crash injury. Unfortunately, most booster seat programs fail to adequately motivate their intended population because they are primarily informational in nature and rely on caregivers to seek out and attend to the information. In this article, interventions using threat appeal tactics and progressive dissemination methods are recommended to effectively target participation and perceptions of vulnerability among this population. Recent research on risk communication indicates that threat appeals are supported when they contain high threat and high efficacy components. Threat appeal tactics are particularly desirable when perception of vulnerability is low, as is the case with parents of booster-aged children. In addition to theoretical arguments for more aggressive intervention approaches, a case example is presented wherein such techniques were used to promote booster seat use. The intervention resulted in significant increases in knowledge, risk-reduction attitudes, sense of efficacy, and observed booster seat use. Through use of progressive dissemination methods, the intervention has reached an audience of 431,600 people and counting.
Asunto(s)
Accidentes de Tránsito , Sistemas de Retención Infantil/estadística & datos numéricos , Promoción de la Salud/métodos , Seguridad/normas , Cinturones de Seguridad/estadística & datos numéricos , Adolescente , Adulto , Niño , Preescolar , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Motivación , Padres/educación , Medición de Riesgo , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: To develop a scale for measuring parental perceptions of childhood injury risk. METHODS: The Worry Assessment and Risk Estimation (WARE) Scale was administered to 256 parents/guardians to examine reliability, factor structure, and perception of risk. RESULTS: The WARE Scale has high internal consistency reliability (alpha = .89). Parents underestimated scenarios with high injury/death rates and overestimated scenarios with low injury/death rates. CONCLUSIONS: Risk estimation measures such as the WARE Scale have great potential as research tools and may be modified to suit researchers' needs.
Asunto(s)
Actitud Frente a la Salud , Padres/psicología , Medición de Riesgo , Heridas y Lesiones/etiología , Adolescente , Niño , Guarderías Infantiles , Protección a la Infancia , Preescolar , Femenino , Humanos , Lactante , Masculino , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Estados Unidos/epidemiología , Virginia , Heridas y Lesiones/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: Recent research supports the use of high-threat messages when they are targeted appropriately and designed to promote high efficacy as well as fear. This research examined the effectiveness of using a novel threat-appeal approach to encourage parents to place their children in booster seats and rear seats of vehicles. METHOD: A 6-min video-intervention was created and evaluated at after-school/daycare centers via an interrupted time series design with similar control sites for comparison. Caregivers (N=226) completed knowledge and practice surveys and fear and efficacy estimations related to childhood motor vehicle hazards. Researchers observed booster-seat and rear-seat use in study site parking lots. RESULTS: Compared to baseline and control assessments, the treatment groups' child passenger safety knowledge, risk-reduction attitudes, behavioral intentions, sense of fear related to the hazard, and sense of efficacy related to the recommended behaviors increased significantly. Further, observed overall restraint use and booster-seat use increased significantly following the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Applying high-threat messages to child passenger safety interventions is promising and has the potential to be adapted to other health risk areas.