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

Abstract #113604

Janet A. Holden, PhD, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, 747 S. Scoville Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60304-1448, 708-386-7179, janetholden@sbcglobal.net, Molly Martin, MD, Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, 1700 W Van Buren St, Suite 470, Chicago, IL 60612, and Kyran Quinlan, MD, MPH, Division of General Pediatrics, University of Chicago, 800 East 55th Street, Chicago, IL 60615.

Objective: Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for Latino children in the United States. We evaluated a program at a community center in which community health workers (CHW) provide child safety seat (CSS) education using a seatbelt demonstrator to improve CSS usage in urban low-income Latino families. Methods: This study used a series of CSS check events to compare CSS usage in families who had received an education intervention from the community center to similar families who had not received the intervention. The community center invited families who had previously received their services to attend the events. Comparison group participants attended in response to a series of community announcements. Results: Seventy-nine families participated in the study resulting in a total of 119 child restraint systems checked. Seven of 44 (16%) CSS from the intervention group were completely correctly installed versus none in the comparison group (p=0.03). Individual components of CSS installation were also correct significantly more often in the intervention group. No significant differences were noted among intervention group participants who had received education only on the office demonstrator compared to those where CHWs helped install the CSSs in their vehicle. Conclusions: The CSSs of the families who participated in this community intervention were used more correctly than the seats of similar families from the community who did not receive the intervention. Improvements in CSS installation and usage in urban low-income Latino communities can result from education provided by CHWs trained as child passenger safety technicians.

Learning Objectives: The participant in this session will be able to

• Identify barriers to child safety seat usage in urban low income Latino communities.
• Describe how community health workers can provide child passenger safety education in this community.
• Conduct a child car seat check up event for the purpose of program evaluation.
• Describe why and how a seatbelt demonstrator can be incorporated into child passenger safety education.

Keywords: Community Health Promoters, Latino Health

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.