Safety Skills Training: Parents of School-Aged Children

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Injuries are the leading cause of death and disability in children in America. Most injuries can be prevented when parents implement effective child safety practices. This project will produce an interactive multimedia behavior change program that teaches injury prevention skills to parents of children aged 6 through 11 years, tailored to child age (6-7, 8-9, and 10-11 years), home and neighborhood environment, and child recreation/sports choices. The program will be designed for home, worksite, medical office, schools, day care and community agency settings. Based on The Injury Prevention Program (TIPP), knowledge-based print materials created by the American Academy Pediatrics, this program will combine Social Learning Theory, the Health Belief Model, and the Theory of Reasoned Action to add behavior change theoretical approaches to injury prevention intervention efforts. Expanding on the successful Phase I program covering household safety and pedestrian safety for parents of children aged 6-7, the Phase II program will create household and pedestrian safety materials for all child age groups and cover additional topics as outlined in the TIPP program, including team sports, water safety, winter recreation safety, wheeled sports, and motor vehicle passengers. The final product will be in Internet/intranet, CD-ROM, and DVD formats in an effort to provide access to the materials for a broad variety of users. The program will be evaluated in randomized clinical trial with a behavioral observation component with 240 parents of school-aged children. Injuries are the leading cause of death and disability in children in America. Most injuries can be prevented when parents implement effective child safety practices. This project will create a behaviorally based program to teach parents what to do to prevent injuries to their school aged child, in an effort to reduce the number of injuries, hospitalizations, medical costs, and missed work days.