Evaluation of kiosk-based tailoring to promote household safety behaviors in an urban pediatric primary care practice

We tested a kiosk-based tailoring intervention with a sample of 144 parents of young children using a two-group randomized controlled design to evaluate the kiosk. Intervention group parents (n = 70) answered 50 questions at a practice-based kiosk and they and their child's physician received immediate feedback reports of their injury prevention needs. Four weeks later, both control (n = 74) and intervention parents completed a telephone interview. Safety knowledge, beliefs, and practices were compared at follow-up. Compared to control group parents, intervention group parents were more knowledgeable about the inappropriateness of young children riding in the front seat of a car (16% versus 5%, p < 0.05), less likely to believe that teaching a child to mind you is the best way to prevent injuries (64% versus 86%, p < 0.05), and more likely to report that they "have syrup of ipecac" (34% versus 9%,p < 0.001) and "know how to use" it (24% versus 4%, p < 0.002). This study provides further support for the use of tailored communication to address the prevention of injuries to young children but calls for continued investigation in the area. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.