Research Project
7288335
In the U.S. unintentional injuries rank as the leading cause of death and a major cause of hospitalization[unreadable] and disability for children beyond 1 year of age. Preschool-aged children are frequently injured at home. This[unreadable] fact has led to an increasing focus on the nature and scope of supervision provided by caregivers of young[unreadable] children. The proposed research aims to develop an evidenced-based, theoretically-motivated intervention to[unreadable] improve the quality of supervision provided children by caregivers and to systematically evaluate the impact[unreadable] of this intervention on both parent supervision and children's frequency of home injury.[unreadable] Diverse literatures (persuasion research, therapeutic intervention strategies, behavioral change theories[unreadable] and evidence) were consulted to determine when the program should be delivered, what should be the[unreadable] focus, and how best to communicate information to maximize effectiveness. The intervention will be timed to[unreadable] coincide with a teachable moment (proximal to a child injury occurrence); will comprise multiple components[unreadable] that target key cognitions (vulnerability for injury, potential injury severity, benefits of close supervision for[unreadable] prevention, self efficacy in supervising) and emotions (fear) that have been linked to risk decisions; and will[unreadable] use a video-exposure format with numerous subsequent activities to promote motivation to change,[unreadable] development of skills necessary for close supervision, and instantiation of this practice as a behavioral habit.[unreadable] Participants will be primary caregivers of a child in one of two age groups (2-3 years, 4-5 years),[unreadable] randomly assigned to groups, with intervention and control groups matched on key demographic factors.[unreadable] Numerous behavioral, observational, and questionnaire measures of childhood injury and caregiver[unreadable] supervision will be taken pre- and post-intervention (3, 6 and 12 months after).[unreadable] Regression and ANOVA analyses will determine (1) if the intervention increases supervisory behaviors[unreadable] and reduces children's injury rates; (2) if these effects persist through 3, 6 and 12 months post-intervention,[unreadable] and (3) if other child or parent behavioral attributes that have been related to injury risk in prior research[unreadable] moderate or mediate the extent of effectiveness of the intervention. The research addresses a substantive[unreadable] gap in the injury-prevention literature and the findings will provide a solid foundation for future intervention[unreadable] work on the important topic of how to promote caregiver supervision to reduce child-injury risk.
