Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Eileen M. McDonald, MS¹, Lara B. Trifiletti, PhD, MA², Wendy C. Shields, MPH³, Yu-Jen Cheng⁴, Mei-Cheng Wang, PhD⁴, and Andrea C. Gielen, ScD, ScM¹. (1) Health, Behavior & Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, 7th floor, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-614-0225, emcdonal@jhsph.edu, (2) Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus Children's Research Center, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, (3) Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, 5th floor, Baltimore, MD 21205, (4) Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Wolfe Street, E3614, Baltimore, MD 21205

Introduction: Injury control professionals must find more effective ways to educate parents of young children about safety issues. Behavioral theory, health communication and computer technology were used in the Safety in Seconds® program to promote safety behaviors among parents of young children being seen in an emergency department. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of receiving tailored versus personalized communication on parents' use of a child health report. Methods: As part of a larger RCT, parents were randomized to one of two conditions. Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM) stage tailored messages were created in keeping with the theory for three safety behaviors. Intervention Group (IG) parents completed a safety assessment and received a child health report PAPM tailored to parents' use of smoke alarms, car safety seats, and poison storage and culturally tailored using time orientation, spirituality, or racial pride. Control Group (CG) parents completed an assessment of comparable length on different child health topics and received a generic but personalized child health report. Two weeks later, all parents were contacted by telephone to assess their exposure to and use of the child health report. Results: More than 400 unique PAPM tailored messages were written. 764 parents completed the 2-week telephone follow up (50% IG, 50% CG). Almost all parents remember “getting a report” and 93% of IG and 91% of CG parents said they read it. More CG (66%) than IG (48%) parents reported reading only “some” of the report. IG parents were more likely to discuss the report with family and friends compared to CG parents (68% vs 59%, .009). Four month follow up data will also be presented. Conclusions: Theory driven, stage tailored communication may enhance exposure to health communication materials among parents of young children.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

• Recognize how constructs from Weinstein's Precaution Adoption Process Model were used to create tailored injury prevention messages
• Discuss the benefits and challenges of creating theory driven and tailored injury prevention messages
• Evaluate the impact of receiving tailored versus personalized communication on parents' exposure to a child health report

Keywords: Injury Prevention, Communication

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered