Authors' objectives:

This evidence synthesis examines the evidence for the benefits and harms of counseling primary care patients to use age- and weight-appropriate motor vehicle occupant restraints and to reduce alcohol-related driving or riding behaviour.

Authors' recommendations: Primary care behavioural counseling interventions to increase correct age- and weight-appropriate restraint use may increase short-term use, or correct use, of restraints but effects may diminish by longer term follow-up. Effective interventions targeting infants or children included education and demonstrations of correct use, with or without child safety seat distribution programs, and were tested during a time of growing cultural support and increasing regulatory requirements for child safety restraint use. Data from primary care studies were limited for interventions to increase use of belt-positioning booster seats for children ages four-eight years, an area where interventions are needed due to lower use and gaps in current child safety seat legislation. No primary care interventions targeting young drivers aged 16–24 years, a known high-risk group, were available. Data to address BC interventions for adults was quite limited, although current data suggests usage rates are quite high and supported by a strong regulatory environment. Across age groups, there was a lack of recent or good-quality trials for any MVOI-related safety behaviors. Many of the available studies were conducted when restraint use was less common and the studies that were conducted in populations with higher baseline use did not show improvements in restraint use, suggesting a possible ceiling effect. Misuse of child safety restraints remains common and diminishes their effectiveness. Extrapolating from existing evidence, interventions to counsel parents on appropriate correct use of child safety seats (including booster seats) may be beneficial, with potential harms unlikely and not supported by data.

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK34023/

Year Published: 2007

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: United States

Organisation Name: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Contact Address: Center for Outcomes and Evidence Technology Assessment Program, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, USA. Tel: +1 301 427 1610; Fax: +1 301 427 1639;

Contact Name: martin.erlichman@ahrq.hhs.gov

Contact Email: martin.erlichman@ahrq.hhs.gov

Copyright: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)