Promoting automobile safety belt use by young children

Abstract

A program using behavioral practice, assertiveness training, and social and contrived reinforcers was developed to establish and maintain automobile safety belt use by young children. Sixteen children (ages 4.8 to 7 years) who never used their safety belts during a 5-day preexperimental observation period were randomly assigned to two groups of eight each. A multiple baseline design across groups was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program. During the 8-day baseline period for Group 1, no children used their safety belts when unobtrusively observed while being driven from school. During the 26-day intervention period, the children were buckled up on 96% of the observations. Follow-up probes conducted 2-3 months after program discontinuance found safety belt use to range from 86% to 100%. For Group 2, the 14-day baseline safety belt use averaged 6% and increased to a mean of 81% during the 20-day training and maintenance program. Followup probes 2-3 months later found safety belt use to occur during 75%i to 96% of the observations. Parent questionnaires indicated the generalizability and social validity of the program.

Increasing use of seat belts among kindergarten children: Skills beyond awareness

“…This finding replicates those of previous studies~Lehman & Geller, 1990;Sowers-Hoag et al, 1987! and extends them to a Mediterranean culture. By including steps meant to increase awareness in the pre-intervention stages, our findings also suggest that behavioral changes in parents did not stem from awareness alone.…”

Participative Education for Children: An Effective Approach to Increase Safety Belt Use

“…These intervention effects were achieved without the use of extrinsic rewards, and the gains were similar to increases in safety belt use following incentive/reward programs for adults (see reviews by Geller, 1984Geller, , 1988Geller, Rudd, Kalsher, Streff, & Lehman, 1987) and for children (Roberts & Fanurik, 1986;Roberts & Layfield, 1987). Sowers-Hoag et al (1987) showed greater gains in safety belt use with their intervention package, which induded education, assertiveness training, behavioral rehearsal, and a prize lottery. However, these investigators only examined the program impact for children (n = 16) who never used a safety belt during a "five-day pre-experimental observation period" (p. 134).…”

“…For example, Roberts and Turner (1986) rewarded parents with lottery tickets redeemable for prizes if their children were buckled up when arriving at 219 1990,23,[219][220][221][222][223][224][225] NUMBEP, 2 (summER 1990) day-care centers; Roberts and Layfield (1987) directly rewarded preschool children with colorfu stickers when they were buckled up correctly upon arrival at day-care centers; Roberts and Fanurik (1986) and Roberts, Fanurik, and Wilson (1988) taught PTA volunteers to reward elementary school children with lapel stickers, lottery tickets for pizzas, bumper stickers, and coloring books if all vehide occupants were buckled up when arriving at school; and Sowers-Hoag, Thyer, and Bailey (1987) The parents of the kindergarten children were invited to come early one afternoon (i.e., 2:30 p.m. instead of 3:00 p.m.), and watch the "Buckie Buckle Show." On the next day, the kindergarten children performed the "Buckie Buckle Show" during school hours for the children in the primary classes.…”

Operant Learning Theory

“…Besides preventing possible injury or death, these interventions can also head off the emotional harm that is a frequent aftermath of these traumatic events. Some self protective skills that have been taught are automobile safety belt usage to youth (Sowers Haag, Thyer, & Bailey, 1987;M. Williams, Thyer, Bailey, & Harrison, 1989), safe responses when finding a gun in a house (M. B. Himle, Miltenberger, Flessner, & Gatheridge, 2004;Miltenberger et aI., 2005), skills for young children to avoid abduction (Johnson et aI., 2005(Johnson et aI., , 2006Miltenberger & Thiesse-Duffy, 1988), steps for identifying and treating children's illnesses for parents at risk of child abuse and neglect (Bigelow & Lutzker, 2000), ways to reduce home safety hazards for parents reported for child neglect (Metchikian, Mink, Bigelow, Lutzker, & Doctor, 1999), and self-preservation and emergency responses for battered families (Lund & Greene, 2003).…”