A randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of the Supervising for Home Safety program on parent appraisals of injury risk and need to actively supervise.

Abstract

A video to promote parents' appreciation of young children's risk of injury and need for active supervision was recently developed (Morrongiello, Zdzieborski, Sandomierski, & Lasenby-Lessard, 2009). Integrating this video with tailored activities resulted in the Supervising for Home Safety program. The current randomized, controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of this program for increasing parental appraisals of child-injury risk and the need to actively supervise 2- through 5-year-old children. Parents were recruited throughout the community and randomly assigned to either intervention (content focused on child-injury risks and supervision needs) or control (content focused on child nutrition and exercise) groups, with these balanced for child sex and age. Pre- and postintervention measures of parental appraisals of child-injury risk (vulnerability for injury, potential injury severity, preventability of injury) and supervision (value of active supervision, self-efficacy for actively supervising) were taken. Following exposure to the intervention, appraisals of children's injury risk and parents' need to actively supervise significantly increased in the intervention group but not the control group, and all effects, except change in vulnerability appraisal, persisted for 12 months after exposure to the intervention program. Additional analyses were conducted to explore barriers that parents identified to closely supervising and solutions they suggested to address barriers. The Supervising for Home Safety program produced the desired effects on parental appraisals. It holds promise as a program that may improve parents' supervision practices.