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Examining child restraint use and barriers to their use: lessons from a pilot study
J C Simpson1, J Wren, D J Chalmers
1Injury Prevention Research Unit, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. jean.simpson@ipru.otago.ac.nz
Insights
Evaluating child restraint device (CRD) use in New Zealand, the interview/inspection and focus group methods proved most effective for gathering reliable data on usage and barriers. These approaches offer efficient insights into proper CRD implementation.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Transportation Safety
- Research Methodology
Background:
- Child restraint devices (CRDs) are crucial for preventing injuries in vehicle accidents.
- Understanding CRD usage rates and barriers is essential for effective safety interventions.
- Previous research has explored various methods for data collection on CRD use.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of four distinct research methods in measuring child restraint device (CRD) use and misuse rates in New Zealand.
- To identify key barriers contributing to the non-use or incorrect use of CRDs.
- To determine the most suitable methods for future CRD research in the region.
Main Methods:
- Piloted four research methods: unobtrusive observational survey, interview with close inspection, self-administered questionnaire, and focus group interviews.
- Data collection occurred in supermarket car parks and through early childhood organizations.
- Methods were assessed based on efficiency, representativeness, and data acquisition capabilities.
Main Results:
- Observational surveys efficiently identified CRD use rates.
- Self-administered questionnaires gathered demographic data and reported CRD use.
- Interview/inspection methods captured detailed usage, non-use, and incorrect use data.
- Focus groups yielded the most comprehensive insights into barriers to CRD use.
Conclusions:
- The interview/inspection method effectively assessed CRD use, misuse, and related factors.
- Focus groups provided rich qualitative data on barriers to CRD use.
- A combination of interview/inspection and focus groups is recommended for future research to efficiently gather reliable data on CRD use and barriers.
Objective:
To determine the suitability of four research methods to measure the rate of child restraint device (CRD) use and incorrect use in New Zealand and obtain data on barriers to CRD use.
Design And Setting:
To assess the rates of CRD use among vehicles carrying children 8 years of age and under, two methods were piloted-namely, an unobtrusive observational survey and a short interview and close inspection. A self administered questionnaire and focus group interviews were also piloted to assess CRD use, reasons for use and non-use, and to obtain information on barriers to their use. Respondents to all methods except the focus groups were approached in supermarket car park sites at randomly selected times. Focus groups were established with parents identified through early childhood organisations. All methods were assessed on criteria related to efficiency, representativeness, and ability to obtain the necessary data.
Results:
The observational survey provided a simple method for identifying rates of CRD use, while the self administered questionnaire obtained data on demographic characteristics and reported the installation and use/non-use of CRDs. The interview/inspection addressed all the questions of both the above methods and enabled incorrect CRD use to be examined. The focus groups provided the most meaningful information of all methods on barriers to CRD use.
Discussion:
and conclusion: Advantages and limitations of these methods are discussed and some refinements of the original instruments are proposed. The interview/inspection and focus group methods were identified as being more appropriate for efficiently obtaining reliable data on CRD use and identification of barriers to CRD use.
