Race and ethnic differences in a multicenter study of home safety with vouchers redeemable for free safety devices

Most injuries to infants occur at home and are known to have a modifiable component. Additional information on safety behaviors, practices, and device ownership could inform prevention programs aimed at reducing injury-related race and ethnic disparities.

This study is a secondary data analysis of race and ethnic differences in home safety using data collected by the Connecticut, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and New York sites of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids. Study participants were English- and Spanish-speaking parents/guardians of infants aged 4 months to 6 months. All participants received a voucher redeemable for free safety devices and educational materials.

Five hundred forty-two study participants were 37.8% black, 41.7% Hispanic, 10.5% white, and 10.0% other race. Whites more frequently owned/had safety devices including cabinet latches (chi2 =28.9, p < 0.0001), drawer latches (chi2 =21.4, p < 0.0001), bath thermometers (chi2 =22.5, p < 0.0001), electric outlet covers (chi2 =15.9, p = 0.0004), and poison control number (chi 2=93.8, p < 0.0001). Practice of unsafe behaviors, such as stomach sleep position, was higher in blacks (29.3%) than whites (15.8%) or Hispanics (17.7%) (chi2 =11.8, p < 0.0083). Overall, 62.1% redeemed vouchers, but this varied significantly by ethnicity: blacks (42.2%), non-Hispanic whites (64.6%), and Hispanics (76.3%) (chi2 = 48.5, p < 0.0001).

Compared with whites, both blacks and Hispanics were less likely to own a variety of safety devices at baseline, but Hispanics were more likely than blacks to redeem vouchers. This one shot voucher program was effective at increasing device ownership, but was not sufficient alone to achieve population saturation of safety devices.