Study Results from Children’s Hospital Broaden Understanding of Risk Management (Examining the relative effectiveness of different message framing…

Study Results from Children's Hospital Broaden Understanding of Risk Management (Examining the relative effectiveness of different message framing strategies for child passenger safety: Recommendations for increased comprehension and compliance)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- New research on Risk Management is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Norfolk, Virginia, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Age-appropriate child restraints and rear seating dramatically reduce injury in vehicle crashes. Yet parents and caregivers struggle to comply with child passenger safety (CPS) recommendations, and frequently make mistakes when choosing and installing restraints."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Children's Hospital, "The purpose of this research was to evaluate various methods of framing CPS recommendations, and to examine the relative effectiveness on parents' knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions related to best practices and proper use of child restraints. Emphasis framing is a persuasion technique that involves placing focus on specific aspects of the content in order to encourage or discourage certain interpretations of the content. A 5 (flyer group) X 2 (time) randomized experiment was conducted in which 300 parent participants answered a pre-survey, viewed one of four flyer versions or a no-education control version, and completed a post-survey. Surveys measured CPS knowledge, attitudes, perceptions of efficacy and risk, and behavioral intentions. The four flyers compared in this study all communicated the same CPS recommendations, but several versions were tested which each employed a different emphasis frame: (1) recommendations organized by the natural progression of seat types; (2) recommendations which focused on avoiding premature graduation; (3) recommendations which explained the risk-reduction rationale behind the information given; or (4) recommendations which were organized by age. In a fifth no-education (control) condition, participants viewed marketing materials. Analyses of covariance and pairwise comparisons indicated the risk-reduction rationale flyer outperformed other flyers for many subscales, and significantly differed from no-education control for the most subscales, including restraint selection, back seat knowledge, rear-facing knowledge and attitudes, total efficacy, overall attitudes, and stated intentions. This research provides insight for increasing caregiver understanding and compliance with CPS information."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Recommendations for the field include communicating the rationale behind the information given, using behavior-based directives in headers, avoiding age-based headers, and incorporating back-seat positioning directives throughout."

For more information on this research see: Examining the relative effectiveness of different message framing strategies for child passenger safety: Recommendations for increased comprehension and compliance. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2015;79():170-181. Accident Analysis and Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis and Prevention - www.elsevier.com/wps/product/cws_home/336)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting K.E. Will, Childrens Hosp Kings Daughters, Norfolk, VA 23507, United States. Additional authors for this research include L.E. Decina, E.L. Maple and A.M. Perkins.

Keywords for this news article include: Norfolk, Virginia, United States, Risk Management, North and Central America

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