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Rural/Urban Differences in Child Passenger Safety Anticipatory Guidance Provision by Health Care Providers

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Andrea Huseth-Zosel, M.S. , Master of Public Health Program, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Megan Orr, PhD , Department of Statistics, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Background/Purpose: Despite laws requiring the use of child safety seats in all 50 states, many children still do not travel safely in vehicles.  Children in rural areas are significantly more likely to be seriously or fatally injured in motor vehicle crashes than children urban areas.  Despite evidence showing effectiveness of anticipatory guidance in reducing injuries, studies show that health care providers (HCPs) infrequently counsel their patients regarding child passenger safety (CPS) issues and no studies have focused on rural/urban differences in CPS-related anticipatory guidance provision by HCPs. 

Methods: This study surveyed HCPs and parents in several upper Midwest states to compare the frequency of CPS-related anticipatory guidance provision among rural and urban HCPs, in addition to determining rural/urban differences in perceptions related to CPS-related anticipatory guidance provision. 

Results/Outcomes:  Rural HCPs were less likely than urban HCPs to always provide advice to parents regarding CPS issues, were less confident about their ability to address caregiver questions/concerns related to specific CPS issues, and were less familiar with referral or additional resources related to CPS to provide to parents. 

Conclusions: Rural parents are receiving less information than their urban counterparts related to CPS issues, possibly putting their children at greater risk for motor vehicle-related injuries and fatalities.  Future research should evaluate the potentially beneficial role of CPS-related anticipatory guidance provision to rural parents.  Additionally, future research should further investigate the reasons for rural/urban differences in CPS-related anticipatory guidance provision by HCPs.

Learning Areas:

Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Compare rural/urban differences in frequency of child passenger safety anticipatory guidance provision by health care providers to parents. Compare rural/urban differences in health care provider confidence related to child passenger safety anticipatory guidance provision. Compare rural/urban differences in health care provider perceptions related to child passenger safety anticipatory guidance provision.

Keyword(s): Child Health, Rural Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principal investigator on this project. I also have additional experience research rural/urban differences in health education provision to specific populations. I have more than three years of experience researching traffic-related injury prevention topics. Additionally, I am in my third year in the gerontology PhD program at North Dakota State University.
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.

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