Online Program

291441
Reaching teen drivers' parents with an effective intervention to reduce teens' risky driving: Outcomes of translation research


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Jean T. Shope, MSPH, PhD, Transportation Research Institute (Young Driver Behavior and Injury Prevention Group), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
C. Raymond Bingham, PhD, Transportation Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Jennifer Zakrajsek, MS, MPH, Transportation Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Bruce G. Simons-Morton, EdD, MPH, Prevention Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of teen fatalities, and a major cause of teen injuries. Evidence-based interventions to reduce crashes include primarily Graduated Driver Licensing and CheckpointsTM, a parent-directed program that encourages monitoring teens' driving using a parent-teen driving agreement (PTDA). Several studies used different methods to engage parents in implementing this proven program. 1) Adapted for delivery as a brief group intervention to parents/teens in driver education by health educators, CheckpointsTM was effective, increasing awareness of teen driving risk, PTDA use, and restrictions on high risk driving, but only 30% of parents participated. 2) Driver educators were trained to deliver CheckpointsTM, with enhanced results, but still only 35% of parents attended. 3) An interactive Michigan website was developed, community partners engaged, and promotion was phased: a) partner website links; b) adding active partner promotion and earned media; c) adding paid media, yielding 15,278 visits averaging 1:38 minutes, 2.38 pages/visit with 66.3% only viewing the homepage. 413 visitors (3% of new) registered using the interactive PTDA. 4) With American Academy of Pediatrics' collaboration, a national website was developed and promoted by pediatricians to parents. To date, 70 practitioners promoted the website to 2,395 parents, yielding 1,323 visits, averaging 4:16 minutes, 4.59 pages/visit with 43.5% only viewing the homepage. 112 visitors (12.3% of new) registered using the interactive PTDA. Reaching/engaging parents is challenging, although different methods are effective. Personal connections (driver educator or pediatrician) are more effective. Policies requiring parent engagement/meetings may help and CheckpointsTM is effective and ready-to-use.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Define evidence-based intervention. Describe translation research. Discuss some different methods of reaching a target audience, and their pros and cons.

Keyword(s): Adolescent Health, Behavioral Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal or co-principal investigator of multiple federally funded grants on teen drivers and various strategies to reduce their risk of injury and death (graduated driver licensing and evaluations of parent-directed interventions).
Any relevant financial relationships? No

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.