Dissemination of a Child Passenger Safety Program Through Trauma Center-Community Partnerships

Area of Science:

• Pediatric trauma
• Injury prevention
• Public health interventions

Background:

• Improper child passenger restraint use disproportionately affects minority populations, increasing pediatric motor vehicle collision risks.
• Culturally specific education is crucial for effective child passenger safety interventions.
• Pediatric trauma centers can leverage community partnerships to improve safety outreach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a culturally adapted child passenger safety education program.
• To assess the program's effectiveness through community partnerships.
• To measure changes in caregiver knowledge and self-efficacy regarding restraint use.

Main Methods:

• A nonexperimental observational cohort study utilizing program evaluation data.
• Paired pretest/posttest surveys measured caregiver knowledge and self-efficacy.
• Data analyzed by class location and language (English, Spanish, Russian) using paired t tests and Wilcoxon's signed ranks tests.

Main Results:

• A total of 1,795 paired surveys were analyzed.
• Significant increases in caregiver knowledge scores were observed overall (mean difference = 0.565).
• Caregiver self-efficacy for restraint use also significantly increased across all groups (p ≤ .001).

Conclusions:

• Community-based, culturally adapted child passenger safety education enhances caregiver knowledge and self-efficacy.
• Pediatric trauma center partnerships are vital for program adoption and reaching minority communities.
• These programs represent an effective strategy for improving pediatric injury prevention in diverse populations.