A Bicycle Safety Education Program for Parents of Young Children

Abstract

This study examined parental perceptions of the benefits and barriers to bicycle helmet use and their level of knowledge about bicycle safety issues. A school-based bicycle safety education program was taught to first- and second-grade students in a rural/suburban school district by a graduate nursing student. Pender's Health Promotion Model was the theoretical framework used to guide this research study. A parent Bicycle Helmet Questionnaire (BHQ) developed by the author was the tool used to gather data. The study determined that parents of children in schools that received the educational intervention prior to completing the questionnaire had significantly higher knowledge level scores and that the majority of parents were in favor of bicycle helmet legislation for children. The implications from this research study include the importance of bicycle safety education interventions for students and parents and the need to implement bicycle helmet legislation.

Parenting Influences on Bicycle Helmet Rules and Estimations of Children's Helmet Use

“…Implementing state, provincial, or local laws is associated with increased helmet use, according to research based on both survey data (Dannenberg, Gielen, Beilenson, Wilson, & Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:38 21 November 2014 Joffe, 1993;Dellinger & Kresnow, 2010;Caplow & Runyan, 1995) and observational data (Dannenber et al, 1993;Karkhaneh, Rowe, Saunders, Voaklander, & Hagel, 2011). Despite the effectiveness of helmet use legislation, and despite strong parental support for legislating bicycle helmets for children (Caplow & Runyan, 1995;Lohse, 2003;Ortega et al, 2004), currently only 22 states (including the District of Columbia) have statewide laws (Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, 2012).…”

Helmet ownership and use among skateboarders: Utilisation of the Health Belief Model

“…Among injured cyclists, those who wore a helmet were less likely to have a head injury and when a head injury occurred, it was less severe than in cyclists who were not wearing a helmet (Attewell et al, 2001;Bambach et al, 2013;Thompson et al, 1989). Effective helmet interventions among cyclists have relied on several strategies: directly or indirectly providing helmets to cyclists for free or at reduced cost, education of young cyclists and or their parents in schools, medical facilities or community settings and the use of peer educators (Lohse, 2003;McPherson et al, 2009;Quine et al, 2001;Royal et al, 2007;Wu and Oakes, 2005). Ludwig et al (2005) employed social marketing with peer agents, pledge cards and helmet vouchers to increase helmet use among college cyclists.…”

Urban College Student Bicycle Commuting: A Look at Differences in Riding Behavior by Gender

“…Bicycle safety promotion research has largely focused on helmet use, particularly among youth riders [21]. Lack of helmet use is related to injury severity in that helmets can help prevent serious head injuries, including death.…”