1,351 research outputs found
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Child Safety Seats and Seat Belts in Protecting Children from Injury
No full textYoung children are required to use child safety seats, and the age threshold at which children can legally graduate to seat belts has steadily increased. This paper tests the relative effectiveness of child safety seats, lap-and-shoulder seat belts, and lap belts in preventing injuries among motor vehicle passengers aged 2-6. We analyze three large, representative samples of crashes reported to police, as well as linked hospital data. We find no apparent difference in the two most serious injury categories for children in child safety seats versus lap-and-shoulder belts. Child safety seats provide a statistically significant 25% reduction in the least serious injury category. Lap belts are somewhat less effective than the two other types of restraints, but far superior to riding unrestrained.
Parents’ knowledge and use of child restraints in regional and rural NSW: Results from a survey
No full textParent-reported and observed use of child restraints has increased in many countries in recent times and is high for children in Australia (>90%). However, many children are sub-optimally protected because the restraints they are using are too big for them. This study sought to explore possible reasons for this using a survey of parents and carers (N = 284) of children aged 6 years and under. Questions addressed parents’/carers’ knowledge about the "best size" ranges for restraints available on the Australian market, the types of restraints they were using with their children and frequency of use as well as their views on fitting restraints to vehicles. Results indicate that, though parents are well informed about the benefits of child restraints, they are less well informed about appropriate sizes for different restraints, especially those suitable for older children. In particular, more than 50% of these parents gave minimum age/weights for booster seats that were too low. The majority of the parents in this sample were reportedly using a restraint appropriate for the child’s age. However, over 30% of the children in the 4-6 year old group were arguably too small for the restraints they were using. These results suggest that interventions to improve children’s protection as passengers should target parents’ perceptions of when to move children into larger restraints. It seems particularly critical to emphasise erring on the side of caution in relation to the upper age/weight for both forward facing child seats and boosters in order to encourage parents to retain children in these until they have truly outgrown them
Is comfort important for optimal use of child restraints?
No full textSuboptimal restraint use, particularly the incorrect use of restraints, is a significant and widespread problem among child vehicle occupants, and increases the risk of injury. Previous research has identified comfort as a potential factor influencing suboptimal restraint use. \ud
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Both the real comfort experienced by the child and the parent’s perception of the child’s comfort are reported to influence the optimal use of restraints. Problems with real comfort may lead the child to misuse the restraint in their attempt to achieve better comfort whilst parent-perceived discomfort has been reported as a driver for premature graduation and inappropriate restraint choice. However, this work has largely been qualitative.\ud
There has been no research that objectively studies either \ud
the association between real and parental perceived comfort, or any association between comfort and suboptimal restraint use. One barrier to such studies is the absence of validated tools for quantifying real comfort in children. \ud
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We aimed to develop methods to examine both real and parent-perceived comfort and examine their effects on suboptimal \ud
restraint use. \ud
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We conducted online parent surveys (n=470) to explore what drives parental perceptions of their child’s comfort in restraint systems (study 1) and used data from field observation studies (n=497) to examine parent-perceived comfort and its relationship with observed restraint use (study 2). We developed methods to measure comfort in children in a laboratory setting (n=14) using video analysis to estimate a Discomfort Avoidance Behaviour (DAB) score, pressure mapping and adapted survey tools to differentiate between comfortable and induced discomfort conditions (study 3). \ud
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Preliminary analysis of our recent online survey of Australian parents (study 1) indicates that 23% of parents report comfort as a consideration when making a decision to change restraints. Logistic regression modelling of data collected during the field observation study (study 2) revealed that parent-perceived discomfort was not significantly associated with premature graduation. Contrary to expectation, children of parents who reported that their child was comfortable were almost twice as \ud
likely to have been incorrectly restrained (p<0.01, 95% CI 1.24 - 2.77). \ud
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In the laboratory study (study 3) we found our adapted survey tools did not provide a reliable measurement of real comfort among children. However our DAB score was able to differentiate between comfortable and induced discomfort conditions and correlated well with pressure mapping. \ud
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Our results suggest that while some parents report concern about their child’s comfort, parent-reported comfort levels were not associated with restraint choice. If comfort is important for optimal restraint use, it is likely to be the real comfort of the child rather than that reported by the parent. The method we have developed for studying real comfort can be used in naturalistic studies involving child occupants to further understand this relationship. \ud
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This work will be of interest to vehicle and child restraint manufacturers interested in improving restraint design for young occupants as well as researchers and other stakeholders interested in reducing the incidence of restraint misuse among children
Child car restraints : mandating type and seating row according to age with positive effect in regional city in Queensland, Australia
No full textRoad trauma is a leading cause of child injury worldwide. In highly motorised countries, injury as a passenger represents a major proportion of all child road deaths and hospitalisations. Australia is no exception, particularly since there are high levels of private motor vehicle travel to school in most Australian states. Recently the legislation governing the type of car restraints required for children aged under 7 years has changed in Australia, aligning requirements better with accepted best practice. However, it is unclear what effect these changes have had on children’s seating positions or the types of restraints used. A mixed methods evaluation of the impact of the new legislation on compliance was conducted at three times: baseline (Time 1); after announcement that changes were going to be implemented but before enforcement began (Time 2); and after enforcement commenced (Time 3). Measures of compliance were obtained using two methods: road-side observations of vehicles with child passengers; and parental self-report (intercept interviews conducted at Time 2 and Time 3 only). Results from the observations suggested an overall positive effect. Proportions of children occupying front seats decreased overall and use of dedicated child seats increased to almost 40% of the observed children by Time 3. However, almost a quarter of the children observed still occupied front seats. These results differed from those of the interview study where almost no children were reported as usually travelling in the front seat, and reported use of dedicated restraints with children was almost 90%, over twice that of the observations
Will Smart Improvements to Child Restraints Increase Their Popularity?
No full textIn developing countries, child safety seat use remains low, which contributes to the consistently high rate of child injuries and deaths in traffic accidents. In order to protect the safety of child passengers, it is necessary to improve the public acceptance of child restraints. We improved the shortcomings of the traditional child restraints by adding some new features: 1, tightening Isofix automatically; 2, using temperature sensing, a high-temperature alarm, automatic ventilation, and cooling; 3, using pressure sensing, if the child is left alone it will set off the car alarm; 4, voice control to adjust the angle of the backrest; 5, the seat can be folded into the trunk. These functions make human-computer interaction more humane. The authors collected changes in parental acceptance of child restraints using the interview method and questionnaires. We found that acceptance increased significantly after making intelligent improvements to the child restraints. The authors used the Technology Acceptance Model to identify the key caveats influencing users’ use of intelligent child restraints. Performance expectations, effort expectations, social influence, convenience, and hedonic motivation positively and significantly impacted the willingness to use intelligent child restraints, so the authors suggest that these points should be emphasized when promoting the product. The current study findings have theoretical and practical implications for smart child restraint designers, manufacturers, sellers, and government agencies. To better understand and promote child restraint, researchers and marketers can analyze how people accept child restraint based on our research model
Hold on: physical restraint in residential child care
No full textGuidance for developing best practice, policy and improved outcomes for children and young people in residential child care. Children in residential care can exhibit disturbed and violent behaviour which can result in them being aggressive to themselves and to others. Over many years practitioners, managers and policy-makers have tried to find ways of dealing with children whose behaviour is dangerous with a range of interventions such as crisis intervention and crisis de-escalation, as well as the use of sanctions such as restricting leisure activities and control of pocket money. There has also been some debate about the use of physical restraint by residential child care staff when the child or those around him or her need to be protected from the child's aggression without hurting or humiliating the child
Has increasing the age for child passengers to wear child restraints improved the extent to which they are used? Results from an Australian focus group and survey study.
No full textAcknowledgement that many children in Australia travel in restraints that do not offer them the best protection has led to recent changes in legislation such that the type of restraint for children under 7 years is now specified. This paper reports the results of two studies (observational; focus group/ survey) carried out in the state of Queensland to evaluate the effectiveness of these changes to the legislation. Observations suggested that almost all of the children estimated as aged 0-12 years were restrained (95%). Analysis of the type of restraint used for target-aged children (0-6 year olds) suggests that the proportion using an age-appropriate restraint has increased by an estimated 7% since enactment of the legislation. However, around 1 in 4 children estimated as aged under 7 years were using restraints too large for good fit. Results from the survey and focus group suggested parents were supportive of the changes in legislation. Non-Indigenous parents agreed that the changes had been necessary, were effective at getting children into the right restraints, were easy to understand as well as making it clear what restraint to use with children. Moreover, they did not see the legislation as too complicated or too hard to comply with. Indigenous parents who participated in a focus group also regarded the legislation as improving children’s safety. However, they identified the cost of restraints as an important barrier to compliance. In summary, the legislation appears to have had a positive effect on compliance levels and on raising parental awareness of the need to restrain children child-specific restraints for longer. However, it would seem that an important minority of parents transition their children into larger restraints too early for optimal protection. Intervention efforts should aim to better inform these parents about appropriate ages for transition, especially from forward facing childseats. This could potentially be through use of other important transitions that occur at the same age, such as starting school. The small proportion of parents who do not restrain their children at all are also an important community sector to target. Finally, obtaining restraints presents a significant barrier to compliance for parents on limited incomes and interventions are needed to address this
Deconstructing Child Youth Care: an autoethnographic exploration of physical restraints in children’s residential settings
No full textThis thesis is written through the front-line perspective of a child/youth worker who has experienced ‘rupture’ in her personal understanding of the Child Youth Care (CYC) practice. Using a collection of personal journal entries written about her individual experiences of CYC education, mentorship/training, front-line residential practice and frequently used interventions, this thesis takes the reader (and the writer) on a discovery of prominent discourses that exist within the residential CYC profession. Focusing on the use of physical restraints on children by residential Child/Youth Workers, this research project utilizes Deconstructive Discourse Analysis and Liberation Psychologies to illustrate a critical examination of power-knowledge and scientific/medical discourses in CYC practice. By focusing on Foucault’s concepts of disciplinary power, binary division and theory of panopticism, the writer seeks to explore a personal reflection and comprehension of how power is used to assert control over children/youth through mental health treatment and physical interventions
Travelling with children, and nutrition and mental health
No full textTransport accidents are a cause of death and disability across the developed world. In Australia, transport accidents are a leading cause of child deaths from unintentional injury (ABS, 2006) and a leading cause of hospitalisation (ABS, 2007). Most of those child hospitalisations from vehicle accidents are children who were not properly restrained (Kidsafe SA, 2010).
The use of child restraints significantly reduces the risk of injury or death in transport accidents, but there can be barriers to their optimal use. Working with families to help them to use child restraints in a manner that protects their child and adheres to the law can help to reduce the rate of unintentional injury and death among Australian children.
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Developing strong foundations for good mental health is one of the many tasks for children in the early years of life. Mental health problems are thought to affect around 20 per cent of children worldwide (Belfer, 2008), and represent a significant global health burden. For some children, these problems will be transient; however, if left untreated up to half of preschool mental health problems will continue throughout childhood (Bayer et al, 2009) and can go on to have lifelong effects.
A range of risk and protective factors influence children’s ability to develop strong foundations for good mental health. Reducing the number and impact of risk factors and bolstering the number and impact of protective factors helps to set children on a healthy developmental path
Child and Infant Restraints
No full textNHTSA - Behavioral Safety Researchhttps://doi.org/10.21949/15249741979PDFBibliographyFlynn, LoisUnited States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Technical Reference DivisionUnited States. National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationUnited StatesChild restraint systemsChildrenInfantsBibliographiesDOT-HS-804-729NTIS-PB297656The bibliography represents literature acquired since the establishment of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as related to restraints in automobiles for children and infants. It is comprised of NHTSA contract reports, reports of other organizations concerned with highway safety, and articles from periodicals in related fields. Citations follow the format used in the monthly abstract journal Highway Safety Literature and are indexed by a key-word-out-of-context (KWOC) listing, author, corporate author, contract number, and report number. /Abstract from report summary page/129
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