Promoting Safety Belt Use in Shopping Carts

Abstract

A multiple baseline design across two supermarkets examined the effectiveness of prompts on the use of safety belts in shopping carts. At baseline, safety belt use was low at Store 1 (9 days; M = 14.7%) and at Store 2 (13 days; M = 9.9%). However, belt use increased when fliers, posters, a taped message, and buttons were incorporated as a program requesting adult patrons to "BuckleUp Your Baby" at Store 1 (11 days; M = 32.3%) and then at Store 2 (7 days; M = 27.3%). Percent increase of belt use over baseline occurred for male children accompanied by male adults (baseline M = 6.6%; prompt M = 22.7%) and female adults (baseline M = 8.5%; prompt M = 20%). Similar increases in belt use over baseline cccurred for female children accompanied by either male adults (baseline M = 11.4%; prompt M = 21.4%) or female adults (baseline M = 15.5%; prompt M = 21.8%). A social validity questionnaire completed after the study (n = 40 per store) indicated that patrons were in favor of safety belts on carts, found few obstacles preventing belt use, and used the safety belts often. Moreover, these respondents stated the most salient prompts were a height poster that indicated the appropriate size for a child who could sit in a cart seat and a taped message requesting patrons to use the belts. Suggestions for further research in preventing supermarket accidents are discussed.