295157
Bikesafe: A middle school-based bicycle safety intervention program
Jonathan Hooshmand, MPH,
Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami: Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Gillian Hotz, Ph.D,
Department of Neurological Surgery/Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami: Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to measure the effectiveness of a bicycle safety education curriculum for middle school age children in order to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities of bicyclists hit by cars in Miami Dade County. Methods: The BikeSafe program includes a Train-the-Trainer Model, training physical education teachers to teach a four day off bike safety curriculum to middle school age children. Subjects included 194 students from 18 classes (3 per school) at 6 selected middle schools. Measures included a knowledge assessment of the curriculum that was administered to students pre- and post curriculum implementation. Data was collected and analyzed with school and class period examined as predictors of post-score. Results: A significant difference (p < .001) was found between pre and post-test conditions across all subjects. In addition, there was no significant difference between testing from class periods (p > .05), suggesting that a standard intervention was applied. Conclusion: The BikeSafe educational curriculum was found to improve the bike safety knowledge of middle school-aged children. Future efforts will focus on sustaining and expanding this program throughout Miami-Dade County and other high risk counties.
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 education
Public health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the effectiveness of a bike safety education curriculum designed for middle school physical education teachers.
Demonstrate the development and implementation of a bike safe educational curriculum.
List key concepts of bicycle safety that serve as fundamentals for educational curriculum.
Keyword(s): Injury Prevention, Education
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been a research assistant with the BikeSafe Program for the past two years. I worked on developing and implementing the study design along with conducting the analysis of study data.
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.
