Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

Abstract #166701

Lauren C. Babcock-Dunning, MPH¹, Anara S. Guard, MLS², Erica L. Streit-Kaplan, MPH, MSW², and Susan S. Gallagher, MPH³. (1) The Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness, Yale University, 2 Church Street South, Suite 314, New Haven, CT 06519, 203-764-9719, lauren.babcock-dunning@yale.edu, (2) Health and Human Development Programs, Education Development Center, Inc., 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02458-1060, (3) Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111

This study is late-breaking, because it began in January 2007 and ended in June. Background: From 1997 to 2006, 306 young children died in the US from heat stroke while unattended in vehicles. The number of deaths each year has not declined appreciably, despite increased attention in recent years. Many materials aimed at education and prevention have been created, but there has been no systematic review of their effectiveness or the processes used to create them. Objective: This study sought to describe the current practices used to develop print materials addressing heat-related injuries to young children unattended in vehicles and to provide guidelines for future material development. Method: Print materials created between 2003 and April 2007 were collected through a snowball technique that solicited relevant national listservs and organizations. Content analyses were performed to discern what health communication strategies were employed and what risks were identified. Twenty-two materials developers were surveyed. Survey items included: target audience, content development processes, dissemination methods, and evaluation practices. Results: Fifty percent of materials employed both fear- and action-based communication strategies and many (22%) did not employ any strategy. No materials attempted to change behavior by mentioning the legal ramifications of leaving a child alone in the car. Among the risks identified, heat injury was the most common (27%), followed by the child putting the vehicle in motion (15%), or being abducted (12%); several materials did not identify any specific risk. The most common source for content was parent advocacy groups (68%), with few respondents consulting the published/scientific literature. Only four of 22 respondents had evaluated their materials. Conclusions: Effective health communication strategies and behavioral theories were not employed in the development of educational materials related to injury prevention. Developers should engage in formative, process, and outcome evaluations to ensure that communication objectives are met.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the history and scope of this source of injury
• Recognize the importance of employing effective health communication strategies when creating injury prevention materials
• Apply the lessons learned to other sources of injury

Keywords: Injury Prevention, Health Communications

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.