Computer Program Could Keep Kids Safer

A computer program designed to produce personalized safety recommendations could help parents keep their kids safer, according to a new study at Johns Hopkins University.

The study, which will be published in the August issue of the medical journal Pediatrics, reports that parents who used the program and received a safety report tailored to their needs were more likely to maintain safer household practices than those who received just a boilerplate report. The program, billed as "Safety in Seconds," asked parents questions about their kids and their personal beliefs about household safety. The computer kiosk was set up in the emergency room of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

The study was conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. The parents had children ranging from 4 months to 66 months, and approximately 759 parents were involved in the study.

"Every year, millions of families visit an emergency department, providing an important opportunity to deliver injury prevention services. We are encouraged by these results, which suggest that computer technology holds promise for efficiently delivering patient education in busy health care settings," said study co-author Allen R. Walker, MD, in a press release.

The effects of the personalized safety reports were very noticeable. In follow-up interviews, parents who received such reports were significantly more knowledgeable about smoke alarms, child car seat usage, and proper poison storage practices. Lower-income parents who got the customized report were more likely to keep poisonous household substances in safe places than those who got a generic report. Meanwhile, higher-income parents were more likely to report proper use of a child's car seat.

Fifty-seven percent of the parents reported that they read the entire report that was provided to them. Ninety-three percent said they read at least part of it.

Household safety for children has become a hot-button topic in recent years, with various agencies reporting shocking statistics. In February 2006, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that less than 20 percent of children who are sized for booster seats are actually sitting in them while on the road. The National Safety Council, a nonprofit group, reports that children under the age of 6 were involved in 51 percent of unintentional household poisonings in 2004. The vast majority of these poisonings were accomplished through ingestion, according to the NSC. A wide array of fact sheets on increasing household safety is available on the NSC's Web site.

Johns Hopkins release. "Promoting Child Safety with Computers." http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2007/gielen_kiosk.html

NHTSA Press Release. "US Transportation Chief Calls Low Child Booster Seat Use Unacceptable."

http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.9f8c7d6359e0e9bbbf30811060008a0c/?javax.portlet.tpst=4670b93a0b088a006bc1d6b760008a0c_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_4670b93a0b088a006bc1d6b760008a0c_viewID=detail_view&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&itemID=87d1dee1f8879010VgnVCM1000002c567798RCRD&overrideViewName=PressRelease

National Safety Council. "Poison Prevention." http://www.nsc.org/issues/poison/