INJURY PREVENTION CENTER - Arkansas Children's Hospital

RESEARCH – OUR FOUNDATIONTARGETED ATV SAFETY EDUCATION STRATEGIESFOR RURAL CHILDRENOur ATV safety research entered its final year of funding from the HealthResources and Services Administration, EMSC. The overall goal of thisresearch is to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by ATVrelatedcrashes through high-impact educational interventions. Initialwork of the project included focus groups with adults and children todetermine ATV messaging preferences which led to the production of “ATrip Unplanned.” “A Trip Unplanned” is a short education video targetingyouth that was developed in collaboration with the Arkansas Gameand Fish Commission and UAMS. The video was test-piloted by huntersafety educators around Arkansas who provided feedback on additionaleducation materials to accompany the video.ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE PAST YEAR INCLUDE:• Design and evaluation of an ATV Safety Tool Kit which includesposters, brochures, and a discussion guide to accompany “A TripUnplanned.” The tool kit was disseminated to the South CarolinaGame and Fish Commission’s Hunter Safety Educators, Arkansas school nurses and health teachers, and aLouisiana Parish school district for evaluation. The IPC has conducted focus groups in South Carolina andLouisiana and has engaged in debriefing with Arkansas school teachers on usefulness of the tool kit. The toolkit will be modified based on evaluation results and will be available for distribution by the fall of 2010.• Evaluation of running an ATV safety public service announcement in a movie theatre was completed inMonticello.• The IPC provided technical assistance to the northeast region of the Child Safety Network as seven statesincreased their injury prevention efforts to rural children, particularly in the area of ATV safety. A presentationwas made to community representatives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who were starting an ATV safety coalition.RESULTS OF THE ATV SAFETY RESEARCH WERE REPORTED AT THE FOLLOWINGPROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES:• Oral Presentations– Miller BK. Rural Child Injury Prevention. Children’s Safety Network, NE Regional Community of Practice onRural Injury Prevention, Boston, MA, September 2009.– Aitken ME, Klumpp M. Children and ATVs. 8th Annual Iowa Child and Youth Injury Prevention Conference,Blank Children’s Hospital, Des Moines, Iowa, September 15, 2009.– Graham J. The Growing Epidemic of All-terrain Vehicle Injury. Presented at the National Association of StateEMS Officials Annual Meeting, Little Rock, Arkansas, September 22, 2009.– Aitken ME. ATV Injury Prevention: Vulnerability, Resilience, and Resistance. Farm Bureau of LA and Lady ofthe Lake Trauma Program, Baton Rouge, LA, October, 2009.– Aitken ME. Increasing Public Awareness and capacity though Injury Prevention Tool Kits. Injury FreeCoalition for Kids, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, December, 2009.– Long G,Thompson TM , Graham J. Cranial Impalement of an All-Terrain Vehicle Brake Handle in a HelmetedChild. Presented at the Southern Societies of Pediatric Research. New Orleans, LA, February 2010.– Miller BK, Mullins SM, Aitken ME. Increasing public awareness and capacity through injury prevention toolkits. Presented at the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutes, San Diego, CA,March 2010.– Aitken ME. Injury Risk in Rural Communities: Perception versus Reality. Presented at the Society of TraumaNurses 13th Annual Conference, Orlando, FL, April 7, 2010.– Aitken ME. ATVs and children under 16. Lifesavers Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April, 2010.– Bowman SM, Aitken ME. Still unsafe, still in use: The ongoing epidemic of all-terrain vehicle injuryhospitalizations among children. Pediatric Academic Societies, Vancouver, BC, Canada, May, 2010.10 INJURY PREVENTION CENTER