Abstract
ObjectiveTo evaluate a hospital-based educational program to increase child safety restraint knowledge and use among birthing mothers.MethodsA prospective experimental and control study was performed in the Obstetrics department of hospitals. A total of 216 new birthing mothers from two hospitals (114 from intervention hospital and 102 from comparison hospital) were recruited and enrolled in the study. Intervention mothers received a height chart, an 8-minute video and a folded pamphlet regarding child safety restraint use during their hospital stay after giving birth. Evaluation data on the child safety seat (CSS) awareness, attitudes, and use were collected among both groups before and after the intervention. An additional phone interview was conducted among the intervention mothers two months after discharge.ResultsNo significant differences existed between groups when comparing demographics. Over 90% of the intervention mothers found the educational intervention to be helpful to some extent. A significantly higher percentage of mothers in the intervention than the comparison group reported that CSS are necessary and are the safest seating practice. Nearly 20% of the intervention mothers actually purchased CSS for their babies after the intervention. While in both the intervention and comparison group, over 80% of mothers identified the ages of two through five as needing CSS, fewer than 50% of both groups identified infants as needing CSS, even after the intervention.ConclusionThe results indicated that child safety restraint education implemented in hospitals helps increase birthing mothers' overall knowledge and use of CSS. Further efforts are needed to address specific age-related needs to promote car seats use among infants.
Highlights
Road crashes are the leading cause of death and injury in children in China [1], but China has not adopted national policies for child safety restraints in cars [2]
Characteristics of participating mothers Of the 358 birthing mothers approached in two hospitals during the study period, 216 mothers who owned a car in their household agreed to participate in the study
Of 142 mothers excluded from the study, 132 mothers did not have a car in their household, 2 mothers’ children had died, and 8 mothers refused to participate in the program (Figure 1)
Summary
Road crashes are the leading cause of death and injury in children in China [1], but China has not adopted national policies for child safety restraints in cars [2]. To ensure safety of children from birth, in the 1990s, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that all newborns discharged from hospitals in the United States be transported home in car safety seats that met the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and that hospitals should have comprehensive policies and procedures in place for the discharge of newborns [7,8,9] Because of these recommendations, along with legislation requiring the use of car safety seats or child restraint devices for infants and young children, many hospitals in the United States have implemented education programs for child restraint. There is no regulation on child safety restraint use in China, and few programs have been conducted to educate new parents about CSS so far [14,15]
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