Translation of an evidence-based safe teen driving program into a workplace wellness program

Background: Increasing safe teen driving will significantly decrease mortality and morbidity among our youth.  Previous intervention studies have demonstrated that increasing parent involvement in teen driving increases safe driving behavior. 

Methods: Steering Teens Safe (STS), an evidence-based teen driving intervention, involves training parents in effective communication before/during their teens intermediate licensing. STS is currently being translated into workplace wellness programs.  To increase translation effectiveness, the Replicating Effective Programs framework and the RE-AIM model are being applied.  Parent-employees completed a focus group to identify facilitators and barriers to translation.  STS was modified into a 3-month program where parent-employees receive three one-hour trainings on communication, complete online tutorials and answer three surveys (baseline, 1-month, and 3-months).

Results: Facilitators to translation included a parents desire to teach their child, a child’s desire to want to drive, and a culture of safety and wellness within the business.  Barriers identified by parents were time and a teen’s potential response to this new type of communication.  To overcome the time barrier, STS has been translated from a hardcopy workbook to an online tutorial that can be accessed anywhere (including mobile devices) and trainings in communication have been completed over workplace lunch hours.  To date, ten parent-employees (6 fathers, 4 mothers) have completed the wellness program.  From baseline to the 3-month follow-up, parent-teen communication improved significantly (p=0.04). Two additional wellness groups are currently ongoing.

Conclusion: Parent-teen communication about driving improved following translation of an evidence-based intervention into a wellness program.  Further translation of evidence-based programs is needed.