None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Children under 7 years must use an age-appropriate child restraint when travelling in motor vehicles. However, incorrect use increases risk of injury 3-fold in a crash, and our previous work has shown high rates (53-74%) of incorrect use. Restraint fitting services are shown to reduce rates of incorrect use almost 2-fold, however reach of these services is limited in rural and remote areas. There is a need to find cost-effective mechanisms for delivering assistance and education on correct use of child car restraints to families in rural and remote Australia as these children are at greatest risk of death and serious injury in crashes. Three information delivery methods have demonstrated promise as countermeasures to incorrect use of restraints. These are: hands-on instruction, like that which occurs in face-to-face delivery of restraint fitting services; instruction via online video; and restraint fitting services delivered via remote virtual assistance technology. To date, there has been no comparison of these different mechanisms as cost-effective countermeasures to incorrect use of child car restraints in rural and remote Australia. To ensure the best use of limited resources it is necessary to identify the most cost-effective mechanism for delivering this type of service. The aim of this project is to identify a cost-efficient delivery method for providing assistance and education to increase correct use of child restraints in rural and remote Australia. This study seeks to address the hypotheses: 1. Hands-on-instruction delivered face-to face and via remote virtual assistance technology will be more effective than instruction via online video in promoting correct use of child restraints. 2. Remote virtual assistance technology will be the most cost-effective method for delivering assistance and education to increase correct use of child restraint in rural and remote Australia 3. Remote virtual assistance technology delivery will be equally acceptable and feasible as face-to-face delivery, and more acceptable than online video. We will trial each delivery method among parents interested in receiving child car restraint fitting services to test these hypotheses.
Interventions
3-arm RCT:
1) instructional online video - generic information video (how to install a child seat, how to secure the child, items to check) provided by emailed link, 10 minutes
2) in-person fitting service - delivered by qualified restraint fitter at Neighbourhood Houses in rural/remote Victoria, 20 minutes
3) fitting service delivered over remote assistance technology - delivered by qualified restraint fitter using Help Lightning interactive app (at Neighbourhood Houses to enable subsequent fit
3-arm RCT: 1) instructional online video - generic information video (how to install a child seat, how to secure the child, items to check) provided by emailed link, 10 minutes 2) in-person fitting service - delivered by qualified restraint fitter at Neighbourhood Houses in rural/remote Victoria, 20 minutes 3) fitting service delivered over remote assistance technology - delivered by qualified restraint fitter using Help Lightning interactive app (at Neighbourhood Houses to enable subsequent fitter check of installation), 20 minutes A comprehension assessment is conducted by phone immediately following delivery of each intervention type. All three groups will receive a follow-up check at 3 months at a Neighbourhood House. The final survey will include questions on education material accessed over the 3 months. Adherence will be determined through answers to the comprehension assessment and final questionnaire. Fidelity of the delivery of the interventions and dose delivered is relatively fixed with the number of people delivering each intervention limited and following defined procedures.
Sponsors
The George Institute for Global Health
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
- have a child and want to use a child car seat fitting service. - live in a rural or remote part of Victoria, and able to visit a Neighbourhood Houses location that is taking part in the study. - own a child seat. - speak English well enough to understand consent documents and instructions given by the fitting service. - have a mobile phone or tablet with a camera and able to access a web browser (eg, Google Chrome, Safari).
Exclusion criteria
Previously use of child seat fitting service or instructional online video.
Outcome results
None listed