Issue No. 10, February 2009

New Research Compares SUV and Minivan Child Safety

A study released in the February 3 issue of Injury Prevention conducted by Center researchers found that when appropriately restrained for their age and size, children are extremely well-protected in both SUV’s and minivans. Child occupants of SUVs did have a higher fatality risk than child occupants in minivans in tow-away crashes. However, once researchers adjusted for rollover, there was no significant difference in risk of death for child occupants in minivans and SUVs, suggesting that the increased risk of death to children in SUVs largely results from their increased tendency to roll over.  In a broader spectrum of crashes (primarily low-to-moderate severity), child passengers in minivans were 35 percent less likely to sustain nonfatal injuries as compared to those in SUVs. Families in the market for a vehicle with maximum seating and storage capacity should consider minivans, as well as SUVs that come equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC); 99 percent of model year 2009 SUVs have ESC.

Read the study abstract

Study Finds Proper Restraint Use High for Children with Special Needs Affecting Behavior

Injury Center researchers published findings from the first large-scale study on child restraint use and injury risk among children with special health needs likely to affect behavior in the February 3 issue of Pediatrics. Although these children were more likely to use child restraints correctly, their injury risk was similar to other children’s. Further research is needed to determine why greater appropriate restraint use among this population does not correspond to lower injury rates. In the meantime, researchers urge parents to follow recommended restraint practices for all children. (For the latest guidelines, visit  http://stokes.chop.edu/programs/carseat/any_age.php.)

Read the press release.
Read the study abstract.

'Good Driver, Safe Driver' Mean Different Things to Different Teens, Says New Study

A new study conducted by the Center's teen driver safety team published in the February issue of Injury Prevention may provide insight on how to understand nuances in public health messages on teen driving safety. The qualitative study used freelisting, an anthropological research technique, to explore how teens perceive the meanings of "good driver" and "safe driver." What researchers found is that these words may have meanings for teens that are different from those that experts intend. Furthermore, groups of teens may hear the messages through different filters. For example, only females said that a good driver “concentrates,” is “patient” and “smart,” “a safe driver,” and “obeys signs.” Only males used the words "courteous" and "calm" and behaviors such as “takes their time,” “(checks) mirrors,” and “uses signals” to describe a safe driver.

According to the paper's implications, public health messaging to teen drivers and their families should be tested to determine how key words, such as “good” and “safe,” are internalized by different subgroups (based on gender, ethnicity, and other important demographic characteristics). "By better understanding cultural filters, we can create communications that incorporate important nuances in meaning among subgroups of teens," says Frances K. Barg PhD, lead author of the study.

Read the abstract.

Picturing a World Without Violence

The Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center (PCVPC) used art to engage youth in West and Southwest Philadelphia in identifying ways to prevent violence in their neighborhoods. Last summer PCVPC held The Art of Violence Prevention: A Photo/Drawing Contest. Community youth were asked to submit photos or drawings promoting violence prevention, conflict resolution, or good decision making skills. A panel of PCVPC members judged the entries, and the winning drawings are now posted on the PCVPC website. The recently launched site also includes violence prevention resources, updates on the Center’s research activities, data about violence prevention in West/Southwest Philadelphia, and much more.

Increasing Awareness of Booster Seats

Based on PCPS findings related to the effectiveness and demographic patterns of belt-positioning booster seat use, the Injury Center developed and tested messages aimed at increasing booster use among at-risk populations (those with a high school education or less, as well as families of Latino and African-American heritage). As a follow-up to that study, Tyra Stephens, MD, a Center affiliate, recently completed a pilot social marketing initiative to determine if the developed intervention is an effective way to increase booster seat use among a population less likely to use booster seats for their children.

As part of that initiative, a pilot booster seat awareness campaign culminated with over 250 booster seats given out to families living in the targeted zip code. Prior to the booster seat giveaway, the community was exposed to the campaign for three months, and all booster seat recipients watched a video reinforcing the safety message: “Using a booster seat leaves no room for regret.” The study was funded by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Post-intervention observational results will measure the effect of the campaign compared to a control city.

The formative, pre-pilot research described above was recently published in a two-volume report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Identifying Information that Promotes Belt-Positioning Booster Seat Use.

Read Volume 1 of the Report.
Read Volume 2 of the Report.

Read about child restraint use and crash injury trends from the 2008 Fact & Trend Report.

EMSC Webcast for Healthcare Providers Promotes New Resource for Families of Injured Kids

Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) will host a Webcast on March 23rd from 2 to 3 p.m. EST to introduce healthcare providers to a new Web resource for parents of injured kids. Center for Injury Research and Prevention pediatricians and psychologists developed www.aftertheinjury.org to help parents understand their children's reactions to injury and to promote optimal emotional and physical recovery. The site's content is based on the latest research evidence and solid clinical expertise and has been tested with famililes of injured children. Registration will be available online at http://www.mchcom.com/liveWebcasts.asp. If you'd like to be notified when online registration is available, please send an e-mail to: mortensen@email.chop.edu.

CIRP at Lifesavers 2009

Center members will present at the annual Lifesavers Conference in Nashville, TN. Lifesavers is the premier national highway traffic safety meeting dedicated to reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our roadways. This year’s meeting will be held March 29 to April 1. (For conference specifics, go to www.lifesaversconference.org) Here’s a lineup of our presentations. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Tuesday, March 31: Session #5 – 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Workshop: Bringing New Partners to the CPS Table

Presentation: “Advocating for NASS Special Study on Child Occupant Protection” — Dennis R. Durbin, MD, MSCE
Description: CHOP is partnering with NHTSA and industry to develop a child-focused crash surveillance system within NHTSA’s National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) to replace Partners for Child Passenger Safety (PCPS) . With the NASS Special Study on Child Occupant Protection (NASS COP), the traffic safety community will continue to be able to estimate child crash injury trends, determine effectiveness of occupant protection systems, and identify emerging risks to children. Learn what’s needed from you to implement NASS COP, as part of the SAFE TEA/ Reauthorization process.

Tuesday, March 31: Session #5 – 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Workshop: Community Efforts to Reduce Teen Crashes

Presentation: “Evaluation of a Peer-to-peer School-based Initiative” —Flaura K. Winston, MD, PhD
Description: During National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW) 2008, CHOP pilot-tested a peer-to-peer school-based program called Ride Like A Friend/ Drive Like You Care (RLAF). Developed with input from teens and practitioners, RLAF was evaluated in two high schools to see if it was effective at changing teen attitudes and intentions about managing passenger distractions. Learn preliminary results and implications for future intervention development.

Recent Presentations from the Injury Center

  • Arbogast K. Abdominal Injuries in Belt-Positioning Booster Seats: An Injury Causation Analysis. Society of Automotive Engineers Government and Industry Meeting. Washington, DC. February 4, 2009.
  • Erkoboni DE. What’s in a Word? Teens describe a good driver vs. a safe driver. American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. October 27, 2008 (Poster presentation). 
  • Gold A. What’s in a word? Teens describe good vs. safe drivers. Ethnographic observations of families with teen drivers units: Report on family units. American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. October 27, 2008 (Poster presentation).  
  • Maltese M. Comparison of Compression and Release Phase Forces in Pediatric and CPR Manikin Thoraces. Society of Critical Care Medicine 38th Critical Care Congress. Nashville, TN. February 4, 2009.
  • Winston F, Noonan K. Achieving Evidence-Based Health Policy. The University of Pennsylvania Medical School Health Policy Program. Philadelphia, PA. February 19, 2009 (Advanced doctoral seminar course launch).

Recent Publications from the Injury Center

Focus On:
Lela Jacobsohn, PhD

Focus On: Lela Jacobsohn, PhD

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes many villages to raise safe teen drivers. As the lead behavioral scientist for the population-based interventions research of the Young Driver Research Initiative (YDRI) at CHOP, Lela S. Jacobsohn, PhD is dedicated to promoting safe teen driving behaviors through population-wide initiatives. “Through the effective use of communication and social marketing to particular groups, such as schools, social norms can be shifted to promote healthy behaviors,” says Dr. Jacobsohn.

In fall 2008 Dr. Jacobsohn led a team that developed a multi-media, peer-to-peer initiative delivered through schools to help teen drivers adopt a behavior essential to their, as well as others’ safety: managing peer passenger behavior. Created in response to YDRI research that found older child and adolescent passengers had a high risk of dying in crashes when teen drivers were at the wheel, The “Ride Like A Friend. Drive Like You Care” initiative was piloted during the 2nd annual National Teen Driver Safety Week in October 2008.

“All of the initiative’s activities, materials, and tools were designed to help teen drivers manage peer passengers and to help teen passengers realize that they also have an important safety role to play,” says Dr. Jacobsohn. “We are currently evaluating the effectiveness of the initiative. If the evaluation indicates positive effects, we plan to launch an expanded initiative to test it on a somewhat larger scale.”

Dr. Jacobsohn is well qualified to lead this effort. She previously participated in research that evaluated the U.S. National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, a comprehensive public health communication campaign designed to prevent and reduce marijuana use among youth. “What we found is that the campaign wasn’t achieving the intended effects. Instead of preventing kids from using marijuana, it seemed to have a boomerang effect,” she says. “The more the kids were exposed to the campaign’s anti-drug messages, the less likely they were to adopt the desired healthy behavior of never initiating marijuana use.”

Through an NIH grant, Dr. Jacobsohn further studied possible explanations for the campaign’s boomerang effect.  Findings from the research pointed to mass communication’s role in influencing perceived norms.  Her results suggested that the campaign ads cumulatively delivered a “meta-message” that marijuana use was widespread among youth, which in turn, negatively affected youth behavior. “Any kind of public health communication that forms a cohesive campaign needs to be pretested in an aggregate approach,” she says.  “Pretesting one anti-drug ad at a time, for example, is not enough. With a large scale ongoing campaign, it’s the cumulative effect that matters most.”

Dr. Jacobsohn received her PhD and MA in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at The University of Pennsylvania. She also serves on the University’s Alumni Board of Directors. Prior to her graduate training, Dr. Jacobsohn worked at Accenture, helping companies implement large-scale change as a change management/business integration consultant. She joined the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP in July 2008.

Blogging on Child
Passenger Safety

CafeMom.com, a social network for moms recently rated the #1 website for women, recently interviewed Center members for two blogs on child passenger safety. http://www.cafemom.com/dailybuzz/toddler

Making Neighborhoods Safer

The Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center (PCVPC) recently distributed its Safe Neighborhood Tips to over 140 medical schools and undergraduate institutions via the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) as part of its National Violence Prevention Protocol.

The Center for Injury Research and Prevention Family of Websites

Support Our Center

The dedicated doctors, researchers, and outreach professionals at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP are fighting to save the lives of children of all ages. But we need your help. To make an on-line donation, please visit The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation Donation Page and select “Center for Injury Research and Prevention” in the drop-down menu. You also may telephone the CHOP Foundation at 267-426-6500. For more information on our research and programs, please visit www.chop.edu/injury.