Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of the child passenger safety program applied to mothers of children aged 0-12 years.

Methods: This research was a non-randomised control group pretest-posttest design, with repeated measures. The sample included mothers with 0-12 years old children who received health service from a family health center in Istanbul (experimental group = 46, control group = 46). The Child Passenger Safety (CPS) program was applied to the experimental group in the form of individual training and counseling, which lasted for 15-25 minutes, and provided information on child safety seat (CSS) protection, and its types and use. Child seat usage, accident-injury risk perception and CSS knowledge level were examined. The outcome variables were measured and compared three times before the intervention and at the 3rd and 6th months after the intervention. Data were evaluated by number, percentage, chi-square test, t-test, variance analysis in repeated measurements, Man-Whitney U and Cohen’s d effect size.

Results: All of the participants were married. Most of them were high school graduates, with single children, and were unemployed. Nearly half of them always used seatbelts. The rate of child car seat use at 3 and 6 months after the intervention was significantly higher in the experimental group (41.3%; 45.7%) (p<.05). When the behavior change stages were examined, 50% of the experimental group and 21.7% of the control group showed at least one stage “advance” in child seat use behavior in the 3rd month. Compared with the control group, the mothers in the experimental group were found to have significantly higher mean scores of accident-injury risk perception and CSS knowledge level during travel by vehicle (p<0,05).