Parental Compliance with Car Seat Usage: A Positive Approach with Long-Term Follow-up

The present study assessed the effectiveness of a single clinic visit and written protocol in increasing mothers' compliance with a health care provider's recommendation for using child safety restraints in automobiles. The use of car seats and the behavior of children was recorded by an observer who accompanied eight mother-child pairs on numerous 15-minute automobile rides. After a varying number of rides during which hone of the subjects were observed to use car seats, each mother was scheduled for a clinic visit. During this visit each mother was told that her child's behavior would improve if a car seat were used consistently, and she was given a brief written protocol which described how to interact with a child who was restrained in a car seat. Immediately after the clinic visit, five mothers (62%) began requiring their children to use car seats, and their children's behavior showed marked improvement. At 3-month follow-up, six mothers (75%) were using the seats. At 6 months, five (62%) were using the seats, and at 1 year three (37%) were still using the seats. These data represent a higher rate of car seat usage than has previously been reported and provide the longest follow-up yet reported.