Evaluation of a mobile safety center's impact on pediatric home safety knowledge and device use

Abstract

Background: A Mobile Safety Center (MSC) is designed to remove financial accessibility barriers to home safety by providing education and safety devices within local communities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of an MSC on pediatric home safety knowledge and device use. Methods: We conducted a prospective home safety interventional study. Parents and grandparents with children at home were recruited at community events attended by the MSC. Participants completed a pre-test survey assessing demographics and current home safety knowledge, practices, and device use. Participants then attended the MSC's short home safety educational program. Afterwards, participants completed a knowledge reassessment post-test and were offered free safety devices: a smoke detector, a gun lock, and a childproofing kit comprising outlet covers, doorknob covers, and cabinet latches. We administered two follow-up surveys four weeks and six months after visiting the MSC. Descriptive statistics, Friedman tests, Wilcoxon Sum-Rank tests, and Pearson Chi-Square were used to assess respondent demographic characteristics and changes in home safety knowledge, practices, and device use. Results: We recruited 50 participants, of whom 29 (58%) completed follow-up 1, 30 (60%) completed follow-up 2, and 26 (52%) completed both. Participants who completed both follow-ups increased total correct answers to safety knowledge questions between the pre-test and post-test (p = 0.005), pre-test and follow-up 1 (p = 0.003), and pre-test and follow-up 2 (p = 0.012) with no significant changes between the post-test, follow-up 1, and follow-up 2. Of the respondents who reported accepting safety products, outlet covers were used most frequently, followed by the smoke detector, doorknob covers, cabinet latches, and the gun lock. Conclusions: The MSC may be an effective means of increasing home safety among families with children, as participation in the MSC's home safety educational program significantly increased home safety knowledge and spurred home safety device use. Implementation of MSCs could potentially reduce childhood injury rates within communities through promotion of home safety.

Evaluation of a mobile safety center’s impact on pediatric home safety behaviors

“…Of our 50 surveyed participants, 29 (58%) completed follow-up 1, 30 (60%) completed follow-up 2, and 26 (52%) completed both. Some participant demographics, including gender, age, race/ethnicity, level of education, marital status, employment, and income level were previously reported in our prior study; notably, while female-predominant (90%), participant racial/ethnic breakdown resembled the population of the Pittsburgh area, while median annual income ($25,000 - $34,999) was lower than the local average [ 8 ]. The majority of participants were employed (56%), married or in a domestic partnership (60%), and 80% finished high school or held an equivalent degree [ 8 ].…”

“…Some participant demographics, including gender, age, race/ethnicity, level of education, marital status, employment, and income level were previously reported in our prior study; notably, while female-predominant (90%), participant racial/ethnic breakdown resembled the population of the Pittsburgh area, while median annual income ($25,000 - $34,999) was lower than the local average [ 8 ]. The majority of participants were employed (56%), married or in a domestic partnership (60%), and 80% finished high school or held an equivalent degree [ 8 ]. Of the above-noted demographics, binary logistic regression revealed that only marital status was an independent predictor of follow-up completion (χ 2 (4) = 11.443, p = 0.022), with participants who were married or in a domestic partnership 5.23 times more likely to complete both follow-ups compared to single participants.…”

“…Participants were surveyed at four time points: a pre-survey prior to MSC education including demographical questions, an immediate post-survey assessing safety knowledge only, and follow-ups at 4 weeks (“follow-up 1”) and 6 months (“follow-up 2”) post-visit. For a complete description of how participants were surveyed and contacted for subsequent follow-up, please see our prior publication on the impact of the MSC on home safety knowledge and device use [ 8 ].…”

“…An educator was stationed at each model and demonstrated safety hazards in addition to correct safety behaviors and devices. As noted in our prior publication, this education was conducted either one-on-one with families or in small groups, lasted approximately 20 min, and covered safety in various areas of the home in addition to fire, firearm, fall, and poison/sharps safety [ 8 ]. All families received the same standardized core curriculum developed by the Safety Center at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (outlined in Supplement 1 ).…”

“…We previously published a study that examined the impact of an MSC on pediatric home safety knowledge and device use, recruiting participants through varied community events and settings and conducting follow-up with participants through 6 months post-visit. We found that visiting the MSC may increase home safety knowledge and the use of some freely distributed home safety devices, even at long-term follow-up [ 8 ]. We also found that by recruiting our study participants at community events, we successfully reached a lower socioeconomic status (SES) population.…”