Issue No. 11, April 2009

Consider Child Occupant Protection as Industry Goes Green

In the next couple of months, Congress will consider the 2010 Federal Highway Reauthorization Bill, also known as the Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization. This legislation sets the six-year spending priorities for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as well as for other transportation agencies. As government and industry work together to provide a fleet of more fuel-efficient, lighter vehicles, it is critical that we closely monitor the impact on safety, especially for vulnerable child occupants. Occupant safety and quality data should be key priorities for this budget. 

CIRP has been conducting feasibility and pilot studies to provide an alternative solution to Partners for Child Passenger Safety, which proved the utility and impact of child-focused crash surveillance before ending data collection in December 2007. With industry funding from the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers and the cooperation of NHTSA, CIRP determined that integrating PCPS methodology with the existing National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) infrastructure is feasible, in demand, and economical.

CIRP may need your help in educating your local Congressional Representatives about the importance of a child-focused crash surveillance as part of the Reauthorization. Please look for an Alert in the coming months that will provide information to help you communicate with your legislators.

Details about proposed enhancements to NASS, which CIRP considers critical to NHTSA sustaining a cutting-edge quality data source to inform the work of policymakers, researchers and industry, are found in the white paper below, as well as links to other information on the future of child passenger safety.
Read the white paper.
Read the fact sheet.
Read the feasibility and justification report.


On March 3, Directors from the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at CHOP met with Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairperson of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The group traveled to Washington, DC to brief legislators on research priorities for child injury, with great emphasis on child motor vehicle occupant protection. Pictured left to right are: Peter Grollman, director of Government Relations at CHOP; Kristy Arbogast, director of Engineering at CIRP; Flaura K. Winston, co-scientific director at CIRP; Senator Inouye; Suzanne Hill, director of Advocacy and Outreach at CIRP; Dennis Durbin, co-scientific director at CIRP; and Kazuo Higuchi, Takata Industries. 


Free Webinar Opportunities: Register Now

A Webinar Update for Stakeholders: “Evaluation of a School-based Peer-to-Peer Initiative: Ride Like a Friend. Drive Like You Care”

The second Driver Education and Training Administrators (DETA)-hosted Webinar about the Ride Like a Friend pilot campaign was announced at the recent annual Lifesavers Conference in Nashville, TN. Teen driver stakeholders should mark their calendars for this Webinar to be held on April 30 at 1 p.m. (EST). During the 60-minute Webinar, research and outreach professionals from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) will provide:

  • Lessons learned from RLAF 2008 pilot studies. A peer-to-peer school-based initiative piloted in two schools during 2008 National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW), Ride Like A Friend (RLAF) was developed after CHOP conducted formative research among teens and stakeholders. The web-based initiative, which promotes safe management of teen passenger behavior, was also available for stakeholders to download to use in their communities’ NTDSW activities last year. Early evaluation findings will be shared during the Webinar.
  • Plans for 2009 through 2010 campaigns, including high-level approaches to planning, peer-to-peer activities, RLAF materials, and evaluation. CHOP researchers will describe plans for an expanded RLAF pilot during 2009 NTDSW (October 18 to 24) and will provide a planning overview for the extended launch of RLAF in 2010.

This informative session will be hosted by DETA. Any individual or organization interested in learning more about how to use RLAF 2009-10 in their schools or communities is welcome to register. To register, please visit here.

EMSC Webinar for Pediatric Healthcare Providers Rescheduled

Thanks to all of you who had registered for the www.AfterTheInjury.org Webinar sponsored by Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) on March 23rd. Due to a technical difficulty, the Webinar has been rescheduled for Monday, April 20, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (EST). To re-register or to register for the first time, please visit here.

The Webinar will 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 families of injured children. The new site will be officially launched in May. This Webinar will offer healthcare providers the ability to understand how to use the site before sharing its contents with parents.

Industry-Relevant Research Underway at CChIPS

The Center for Injury Prevention Studies (CChIPS) recently held its spring meeting at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP in Philadelphia. During the meeting, researchers from CHOP and The University of Pennsylvania shared results from CChIPS-funded studies conducted in 2008-2009 including: “Child restraint systems in side impact”; “Painful spine injury in children and young adults”; “Advanced restraint systems for rear-seated occupants”; “Effect of seat and seat belt geometry on abdominal injuries”; and “Passive range of motion of adult and child cervical spines.”

Matthew R. Maltese, MS, project manager for biomechanics at CIRP, received the Best Presenter Award for 2008-2009 from CChIPS-IAB. The researchers also discussed new projects for 2009 including: “Thoracic cage and age-related changes in thoracic response”; “Learning to drive - teens with developmental disabilities”; “BMI and crash injury in 4 to 8-year-olds”; “A novel approach to develop age-equivalent models for pediatric long bones”; “Neurocognitive evaluation of mild traumatic brain injury”; and “CRS in side impact.” Also presented were highlights for the NSF Fundamental Research Project: “Creating a Virtual Organization to support child safety studies” and “NASS special study for child occupant protection.”

In attendance were members of CChIPS Industry Advisory Board (IAB), which includes Britax Child Safety Inc.; Dorel Juvenile Group; the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); Nissan Technical Center North America Inc.; State Farm Insurance Companies®; TK Holdings Inc.; Toyota Motor North America Inc.; Volkswagen of America Inc., and Ford Motor Co. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), CChIPS was established in 2005. One of 40 NSF/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC) in the country, CChIPS is the only one that focuses on child injury prevention. Its IAB members contribute research dollars to support the CChIPS mission. Also attending to learn more about becoming a part of the CChIPS effort were visitors from Ohio State University, Rowan University, and the University of Arkansas 

For more information on CChIPS-sponsored research, please visit here.





During the CChIPS meeting on March 26, a panel discussion was held on the history and future of child crash test dummy development featuring representatives from the world's two largest crash test dummy manufacturers, Denton ATD Inc. and First Technology Safety Systems (FTSS) and moderated by Nissan and Toyota. Pictured left is Michael Beebe of Denton, and right is Michael Jarouche of FTSS.  Not shown are Christina Mullen of Toyota and John Combest of Nissan, who served as moderators of the discussion.

 


 

CHOP Responds to Concerns Over Government Crash Tests of
Infant Seats

Following recent news stories reporting on the poor performance of infant seats in government crash tests, child passenger safety researchers at CHOP offered reassurance to parents concerned about their children’s safety. These researchers are uniquely qualified to offer this response. Since 1999, they have conducted in-depth examinations of thousands of crashes involving children as part of Partners for Child Passenger Safety (PCPS), the world’s largest study of child crash injury.
Read one of the news stories.
Read the researchers' response.


Recent Presentations from the Injury Center

  • Durbin DR. Understanding Adolescent Perceptions and Experiences Around Driving. John M. Templeton Jr. Pediatric Trauma Symposium. Pittsburgh, PA. March 6, 2009.
  • Durbin DR. 2009 Advocating for NASS Special Study on Child Occupant Protection. Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities. Nashville, TN. March 31, 2009.
  • Fein JA and Thomas N.  Violence Prevention: From Hospital to Community. National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions Annual Creating Connections Conference. Nashville, TN. March 23, 2009.
  • Ginsburg KR. Association Between Parental Style and Adolescent Driving Safety-Related Behaviors. Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, CA. March 26, 2009 (Poster presentation).
  • Kassam-Adams N. Acute stress disorder: From research to practice. Society of Trauma Nurses 12th Annual Conference: Mosaic of Trauma Care. Phoenix, AZ. April 10, 2009 (Poster presentation).
  • Marsac M, Kassam-Adams N, Kohser K, Baxt C, Winston FK. Screening and identifying children at risk for the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms following an injury. Midwest Conference on Pediatric Psychology. Kansas City, MO. April 2, 2009 (Poster presentation).
  •  Marsac M, Kassam-Adams N, Kohser K, Winston FK. Preventing and responding to traumautic stress: Providing tools for parents and healthcare providers. Midwest Conference on Pediatric Psychology. Kansas City, MO. April 3, 2009 (Poster presentation).
  • Marsac M and Alderfer M. Psychometric properties of the FACES-IV in a pediatric oncology population. Midwest Conference on Pediatric Psychology. Kansas City, MO. April 4, 2009 (Poster presentation).
  • Vivolo, A. Teen Online Panels: Relationship Between Risk Perceptions and Driving Behaviors. Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR), Emery University Center for Injury Control, and the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control’s National Injury & Violence Prevention Research Conference—From Discovery to Practices: Innovative Translational Approaches to Injury Prevention and Care. Atlanta, GA. March 4-6, 2009 (Poster presentation).
  • Winston FK. Evaluation of a Peer-to-peer School-based Initiative. 2009 Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities. Nashville, TN. March 31, 2009.

Focus On:
Jessica Hafetz, PhD

Focus On: Jessica Haefetz, PhD

As a behavioral scientist, Jessica S. Hafetz, PhD could have chosen a traditional clinical or counseling path to effect positive change one family at a time. Instead, she was more interested in developing socially relevant programs and interventions that could reach large numbers of families. As part of the leadership team for the State Farm Insurance-sponsored Young Driver Research Initiative (YDRI) at CHOP, Hafetz focuses on designing and evaluating programs and interventions to be delivered directly to families
with teens.

“As an applied developmental psychologist, my mandate is to improve developmental outcomes for children and youth. As car crashes are the leading cause of death and injury for adolescents, it’s the best place for me to devote my efforts,” says Dr. Hafetz. “I hope to help reduce the number and severity of car crashes and injuries involving teen drivers and their passengers by collaborating with the YDRI team and others in the adolescent driving field. We need to elevate teen driving to become a major focus of our nation’s research and policy agenda, where it belongs.”

With her extensive experience in conducting both basic and applied research and passion for helping children and youth, Dr. Hafetz has already become a valuable member of the YDRI team since joining CHOP last spring. “There’s nothing more motivating than helping to improve the lives of children, youth, and families in a significantly measurable way,” she says. “I am honored to be part of this ground-breaking team dedicated to promoting safe teen driving behaviors.”

Dr. Hafetz earned her PhD in Applied Developmental Psychology from Fordham University. As part of her graduate work, she evaluated a school-based obesity prevention program for Latino families with preschool children enrolled in Head Start programs. Her research helped developers improve the program to make it more effective in the ‘real world.’ “There were a lot of practical issues that these working parents faced day to day, such as the lack of affordable locally available healthy foods and time constraints that made it difficult for them to achieve one of the key health behaviors in preventing childhood obesity-- preparing healthy meals for their children,” she says. “Real life got in the way, and the evaluation showed that.”

Prior to joining YDRI, Dr. Hafetz designed and implemented evaluations of prevention, intervention and youth development programs funded through Philadelphia’s Children’s Investment Strategy (CIS), a city-wide initiative designed to promote positive developmental outcomes for at-risk children and youth. This experience provided her with invaluable experience evaluating large-scale behavior change initiatives. “True, lasting, and significant change for a population of individuals, especially those at risk, takes a concerted effort at multiple levels of intervention across multiple domains of functioning,” she says. “A rigorous approach to program development and evaluation ensures that participants receive the quality services they deserve, that the funding is well-spent, and that programs are evaluated fairly in light of the services they’re expected to provide.”

Center Researcher Receives Prestigious Award

Meghan Marsac, PhD, a postgraduate fellow at CHOP who works with the Center’s Child and Adolescent Reactions to Injury and Trauma (CARIT) program, has received the 2009 C. Eugene Walker Education Award from The Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP). Established in 2007 by Dr. Walker, the award helps facilitate the ability of SPP trainees to attend professional meetings to enhance their educational pursuits. Marsac attended the Midwest Conference on Pediatric Psychology on April 2 to 4 in Kansas City with proceeds from this award. She presented two posters during the conference involving her work with CARIT. Marsac also was recently awarded a grant from the Junior Investigator Pilot Grant Program at the Clinical Translational Research Center (CTRC) for measure development. The measure she will be developing is the Coping with Trauma Inventory for Youth.

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 a secure, 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.

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