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Abstract #158553

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Marjorie A. Getz, MA, MPHIL¹, Richard Pearl, MD², Yvette Whitehurst³, Richard Griggs¹, and John Hafner, MD, MPH⁴. (1) Department of Psychology, Bradley University, 1501 W. Bradley Avenue, Peoria, IL 61625, 309 677 2587, mgetz@bradley.edu, (2) Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine at Peoria, 201 Hillcrest Plaza, Peoria, IL 61603, (3) Advocacy, Children's Hospital of Illinois, 530 N.E. Glen Oak Avenue, Peoria, IL 61637, (4) Department of Emergency Medicine, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, 530 N.E. Glen Oak, Peoria, IL 61637

The Haddon matrix is used by injury epidemiologists and presents a concise way to describe/understand components of an injury event. This matrix consists of 3 rows representing time phases (before, during and after incident) intersecting 3 columns representing characteristics of the agent/vector, person and physical/social environments. We use it to better appreciate ATV injuries occurring in children in Central Illinois. In 2003, children under 16 years were involved in 31% of ER visits associated with ATV injuries and accounted for 27% of ATV related deaths. This project, presenting results from two studies, seeks to better understand two key pre-event components: role of ATV dealers in injury prevention and ATV use patterns in children/adolescents. Motorcycle dealers (n=127) who sold ATVs were interviewed via telephone by investigators posing as naïve parents wanting to purchase an ATV for a 13 year old. Over 30% of these calls resulted in the recommendation to purchase an oversized vehicle. Although helmet use was almost universally endorsed (97% of calls), few recommendations for other safety devices were provided. In Study 2, 634 participants from local 4-H Clubs were surveyed. Few (14.6%) had any ATV safety education. Of the 67% who experienced a crash, almost half (44%) were injured. Child ATV use is common in rural populations with most users being adolescent boys with little safety training or helmet use. ATV injury prevention efforts in rural populations should target this group and focus attention on educating dealers to emphasize training and safe riding habits, including appropriately sized vehicles.

Learning Objectives:

After attending the session, participants will be able to
• describe the assessment of an injury event through the use of the Haddon Matrix,
• understand the importance of ATV as a vector for childhood injuries,
• understand the importance of policies that restrict the use of ATV by children
• describe a local community-based injury coalition

Keywords: Children, Injury Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Slides (pdf) or Handout
• Multimedia recording