Abstract
This paper intends to assess the effect of a maternity department intervention on improvement of knowledge and use of child safety seats (CSS) among newborn parents. An intervention study included three groups (one education plus free CSS intervention group, one education only group, and one control group). The participants were parents of newborns in the maternity department of two hospitals. Both of the intervention groups received a folded pamphlet of child passenger safety, a height chart and standardized safety education during their hospital stay after giving birth. The education plus free CSS intervention group received an additional free CSS and professional installation training at hospital discharge. The control group received a pamphlet with educational information about nutrition and food safety. Three months after enrollment, a telephone follow-up was conducted among participants in the three groups. Data on child passenger safety knowledge, risky driving behaviors, and use of CSS were evaluated before and after the intervention. A total of 132 newborn parents were enrolled in the study; of those, 52 (39.4%) were assigned into the education plus free CSS intervention group, 44 (33.3%) were in the education intervention only group, and 36 (27.3%) were in the control group. No significant differences existed in demographics among the three groups. There was a significant difference in newborn parents’ child passenger safety knowledge and behaviors in the three groups before and after the intervention. In addition, the CSS use increased significantly in the education plus free CSS group after the intervention compared to parents in the education only or control groups. Education on safety, combined with a free CSS and professional installation training, were effective at increasing newborn parents’ knowledge and use of CSS. Future studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up are needed to determine a long-term effect of the intervention.
Highlights
Road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death and injury among children under 14 in China [1].While child safety seats (CSS) have been used widely in western countries, the lack of national laws for CSS, coupled with poor parental knowledge about child passenger safety, result in a very low rate of CSS use in China [2]
Of 166 enrolled parents, 60 were in the were in the education plus the free CSS intervention group, 55 were in the education intervention education plus the free CSS intervention group, 55 were in the education intervention group and group and 51 were in the control group
Afterwards, for the Alpha value, the results showed that there was a significant increase in parental knowledge on child passenger safety between the education plus free CSS intervention group and the control group after the intervention (p = 0.001, 95% confidence interval (CI): 8.2643–35.1643)
Summary
While child safety seats (CSS) have been used widely in western countries, the lack of national laws for CSS, coupled with poor parental knowledge about child passenger safety, result in a very low rate of CSS use in China [2]. Previous studies conducted in China showed that the rate of CSS use was about 5% in metropolitan areas [3,4], and less than 1% in a small city [2]. A more recent survey showed that of 906 observed cars with infant passengers, only two (0.2%) infants were in a CSS [2]. The majority of newborns in China were held on laps by parents while traveling in a car to their homes following discharge from the hospital, putting newborns at potential risk [2]. Public Health 2016, 13, 777; doi:10.3390/ijerph13080777 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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