Safety Boost

Through a partnership and funding from a national insurance company, we developed, evaluated, and disseminated an innovative educational tool, using the Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM), to guide families toward correct and consistent booster seat use until their children can safely use an adult restraint system. The goal of the Safety Boost was to increase correct and consistent booster seat use. Attached to the top left corner is a retractable tape measure that can be used to determine when their child will likely be tall enough to use the adult seat belt alone. The front panel consists of four boxes. Inside each box is the picture of a child with a cut-out window underneath. To start, the windows present a question, “Why do I need a booster seat?” To get the answer to the question, the user must slide the card down using the pull-tab at the bottom. As they slide the card out, answers to the question are revealed in the cut-out window. Each question was designed to address the needs of people in different PAPM stages of booster seat use and can therefore provide targeted, relevant, and highly focused theory-based educational messages.