Faith-based injury prevention initiative effectively impacts families in an African American community

Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death and disability for children in the US.  The majority of injuries occur at home, and includes falls, poisonings, and burns, and the most severe injuries occur in motor vehicle collisions. A partnership was established between the African-American faith community of Lincoln Heights (OH) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to address the high rates of childhood injuries in this community.  Six churches (multi-denominational) were engaged and implemented an intervention plan, which included child passenger safety and home safety education, and the provision of car seats, booster seats, and home safety equipment.  

The faith-based organizations worked together to identify and recruit families from the community to participate in the safety interventions.  As a result of this collaboration, observational data showed a significant increase in restraint use in vehicles (10% increase among congregants, 25% increase for community) and community engagement proved successful with nearly 20% of the homes in the community with children under the age of five participating in the home safety intervention.  Most of the participants were satisfied with the program, learned new knowledge, and continued to use the equipment at 4 months post-intervention.  This model demonstrates how a faith-based intervention can spread and impact the entire community.

In attempting to reduce disparities in unintentional injury rates, face to face interaction and community engagement were key drivers to spreading the message of safety throughout community.  Next steps include evaluation of how the adoption of safety practices lead to a reduction in child injury rates.