Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of persuasive communications and incentives in increasing safety belt use

The Safety Belt Connection Project was a worksite health promotion project conducted at a medical school and hospital complex to test the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of four treatment conditions (TCs): TC1, Persuasive Communications (PCs) alone; TC2, PCs plus overt monitoring; TC3, PCs plus incentives; and TC4, PCs plus incentives and prompts. Parking lots were randomized to treatment condition. A community traffic intersection served as a comparison group. Trained observers recorded safety belt use rates (SBURs) of subjects (front seat occupants) over a two-week period at baseline and after a four-week period of intervention. Results were analyzed by chi-square comparisons of pre-treatment and post-treatment SBURs. At baseline, significant differences in SBURs between treatment groups were observed. Significant pre-to-post differences were found for TC3 and TC4: the SBUR in TC3 went from 18.3% - 38.4% (p less than 0.001) and the SBUR in TC4 went from 16.9% - 44.8% (p less than 0.001). Both TC3 and TC4 were effective, but TC4 cost 2.6 times more per person influenced to wear their safety belt.