Abstract
BackgroundA Mobile Safety Center (MSC) provides safety resources to families to prevent pediatric injury. The primary objective of this study was to assess the impact of an MSC on home safety behaviors.MethodsWe conducted a prospective observational study with 50 parents and guardians recruited at community events attended by an MSC. Participants completed a pre-test assessing demographics and home safety behaviors prior to participating in the MSC’s home safety educational program. We conducted follow-up with participants 4 weeks (follow-up 1) and 6 months (follow-up 2) after their visit to the MSC to reassess home safety behaviors. We used descriptive statistics in addition to Friedman, Wilcoxon sum-rank, and Fisher’s exact testing to analyze respondent demographics and changes in home safety practices. Friedman and Wilcoxon sum-rank testing was performed only for participants who completed all surveys.ResultsOf our 50 participants, 29 (58%) completed follow-up 1, 30 (60%) completed follow-up 2, and 26 (52%) completed both. Participants were more likely to have a fire-escape plan at follow-up 1 than on the pre-test (p = 0.014). They were also more likely to have the Poison Control Hotline number accessible in their cellphone or near a home phone at follow-up 1 compared to the pre-test (p = 0.002) and follow-up 2 compared to the pre-test (p < 0.001). Families with at least one household member who smoked or used e-cigarettes at any point during the study (n = 16 for the total population, n = 9 for those who completed both surveys) were less likely to have more than two smoke detectors installed at home during the pre-test (p = 0.049). However, this significantly changed across timepoints (p = 0.018), and while 44.4% reported more than two detectors during the pre-test, 88.9% reported this at both follow-ups.ConclusionsHome safety education through an MSC positively changed some reported safety behaviors and maintained these changes at long-term follow-up. By encouraging the adoption of better home safety practices, education at an MSC may decrease pediatric injury rates.
Highlights
A Mobile Safety Center (MSC) provides safety resources to families to prevent pediatric injury
Some participant demographics, including gender, age, race/ethnicity, level of education, marital status, employment, and income level were previously reported in our prior study; notably, while female-predominant (90%), participant racial/ethnic breakdown resembled the population of the Pittsburgh area, while median annual income ($25,000 - $34,999) was lower than the local average [8]
Of the above-noted demographics, binary logistic regression revealed that only marital status was an independent predictor of follow-up completion (χ2(4) = 11.443, p = 0.022), with participants who were married or in a domestic partnership 5.23 times more likely to complete both follow-ups compared to single participants
Summary
A Mobile Safety Center (MSC) provides safety resources to families to prevent pediatric injury. In a 2015 review article, Gielen et al suggested several practical home safety behaviors that had been shown to be teachable to families [2], including: working smoke alarms with educational programs, fire escape planning, and safe storage of medications and poisons with childproof locks Some of these practices have been associated with decreased injury rates, demonstrating that they are teachable and likely effective [2,3,4]. These centers may be unknown to families who have not experienced a child injury warranting a medical visit, or inaccessible for some families due to travel and financial concerns Another strategy utilized pediatric waiting rooms to provide injury prevention education, finding that 93.5% of families made some positive changes at home afterwards [5]. This method again depends on engagement with a medical provider to access injury prevention education
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