Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109726

Judith M. Ottoson, EdD, MPH, Institute of Public Health, Georgia State University, PO Box 3995, Atlanta, GA 30302-3995, 415-566-6178, judithottoson@gsu.edu, Mark D. Rivera, PhD, Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE, MS K-10, Atlanta, GA 30341, and Monica LaBelle Oliver, MPA, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University/Georgia Institute of Technology, 402 W. Clark Street, Oxford, GA 30054.

“Remembering When” is one of the few off-the-shelf education programs available for communities to use to address prevention of fires and falls by older adults. The CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control supported a two-year process and outcome evaluation of this program. We used a quasi-experimental design to collect and analyze data from 23 training observations, 1913 pre, post, and follow-up questionnaires, and 542 pre and follow-up home visits. We used T-tests and gain scores to compare knowledge and behavioral differences between the treatment (n=406) and control (n=428) sites. Participants at the treatment site were overwhelmingly satisfied with the program. Observations confirmed that all sixteen key messages were covered by the trainers at each presentation of the program. The average program length was 56 minutes, with the amount of time spent on individual messages ranging from 15 to 420 seconds. The treatment site showed more than twice as many significant changes on knowledge items than did the control site. The treatment site showed more significant change on behavior items related to smoke alarms than did the control site. Negative knowledge and behavioral change on safe footware at the treatment site was not found at the control site. Findings are discussed in light of recommendations for improving the program's effectiveness, including identification and discussion of those areas where the program was less impactful. The “Remembering When” evaluation provides an instructive case for examining challenging and thorough research design, policy and programming implications, and the relationship between knowledge and behavior.

Learning Objectives:

• 1.Describe two survey research design challenges that apply to your work
• 2.Identify the links between knowledge change and behavior change
• 3.Recognize the policy implications of community-based injury research

Keywords: Evaluation, Injury

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.