Conducting a Child Safety Seat Survey in Your Tribe
Conducting a child safety seat survey in your tribe makes a statement that reducing motor vehicle injuries is a community priority. It sends the message that people care about this issue and people are paying attention to how kids ride in vehicles.
The Survey
If you want to know the proportion of children using any type of restraint in a vehicle, use this observation method here.
If you would like to know the proportion of children riding in an age and size appropriate restraint, such as rear-facing infant seats, forward-facing harness seats, booster seats, as well as regular seat belts, use the Native CARS method presented here. This type of survey gives you detailed insight into child safety seat use in your community. You will also know where to focus your time and resources because you will know which children are at highest risk for riding improperly restrained.
Example: Tribe A discovered that children age 4-7 were using adult seat belts without a booster seat. They did school outreach and a media campaign promoting booster seat use. Two years later, they saw a significant increase in booster seat use in the tribe.
Example: Tribe B discovered that children riding with someone other than his or her own parent were less likely to be properly restrained. The tribe extended their child safety seat distribution program to include grandparents, aunties, or others who regularly transport children. They created posters and billboards of grandparents securing their grandchildren in child safety seats. Two years later, they saw a significant increase in child safety seat use among children riding with grandparents.
Here is a survey that will help you determine the proportion of children riding in an age and size appropriate restraint in your community. The survey includes observations and questions that you need to determine if the child is in the correct restraint, along with some additional things that have consistently been shown to be related to proper child restraint. Collecting this information will tell you if these are also risk factors in your community.
Each survey takes about 1-2 minutes, depending on how many children are in the vehicle. If there are more than two children in the vehicle, use multiple survey forms and fill in the child passenger section for child #3, 4, and so on.
| 1. Survey number ______________
2. Date _______/_______/_______ 3. Your Initials ___________ 4. Site _________________
OBSERVE: 5. Sex of Driver? 1 Female 2 Male 6. Driver wearing lap/shoulder belt? 1 Yes 2 No ASK: 7. Distance from home? _____ minutes
OBSERVE: 8. Number of people in the vehicle? _____ 9. Number of rows of seats in the vehicle? 1 1 row 2 2 rows 3 3 rows
|
| Child Passenger #1 (8 & under)
Driver relation to child: 1 Parent 2 Other Age Mo Yrs Weight lbs 4’9” or taller? 1 Yes 2 No Seat position: 1 Back seat 2 Front seat |
| Notes: |
| None |
| 0 1 2 3 4 |
| Restraint used: |
| Child Passenger #2 (8 & under)
Driver relation to child: 1 Parent 2 Other Age Mo Yrs Weight lbs 4’9” or taller? 1 Yes 2 No Seat position: 1 Back seat 2 Front seat |
| Notes: |
| None |
| 0 1 2 3 4 |
| Restraint used: |
If your tribe is considering changing tribal child safety seat policy, you can document community support for it by adding an additional question to the survey.
- Would you support a tribal child safety seat law?
Where to do surveys (observation sites)
Parking lots of:
- Grocery stores
- Gas stations
- Trading posts
- Schools/preschools
The surveys are done in parking lots when cars are stopped, either as a vehicle first pulls in, or right before the vehicle departs. Locations such as the community center, health clinic, gas station, trading post, grocery store, elementary school, preschool or Head Start are all good locations to conduct surveys. Make a list of all potential observation sites and attempt to collect data at each location. Determine ahead of time who you need permission from to observe at that location and make the request. Be sure to check in with them the day you arrive. Most schools require observers to sign in at the office and identify themselves with a volunteer badge. Be sure to respect the policies of the organizations you are visiting. In our experience, very few locations denied permission. We found trading posts, grocery stores and gas stations to be ideal sites for the survey. People at these places were less likely to be in a hurry, there was a more continuous flow of vehicles entering and leaving the site, and outside of school hours, children of all ages were equally likely to be found there. You will want to limit the number of surveys collected at preschools and elementary schools to less than 40% of your total sample to avoid having too many surveys of a specific age group of children. So, if you do 100 surveys, make sure 60 of them come from places other than preschools and schools.
Participant selection
- Interview drivers of vehicles with children age 8 & younger
When you are out in the field, make an attempt to contact every vehicle that appears to have a child passenger age 8 or younger. Children age 8 or younger or less than 4’9” in height are recommended to use a child safety seat (including infant car seat, forward-facing harness seat, or booster seat) when traveling in a vehicle. Many states require this as well.
Do not include motorcycles or buses in your survey. Do not collect personally identifying information such as names or license plate numbers during the survey. You can expect 85%-95% of drivers to agree to do the survey.
Survey protocol
- Approach the vehicle either when it first pulls into the parking lot and before the passengers unbuckle their seat belts, or after the passengers are seated and the vehicle is ready to leave
- Introduce yourself to the driver and explain the survey
- Ensure confidentiality and request permission to do the survey
- Proceed with the interview and observation
- When the survey is finished, thank the driver
- Optional: Give the driver information on child safety seats
- Optional: Give a token of appreciation from your program, such as stickers, magnets, temporary tattoos
- If a driver does not want to do the survey, collect only driver’s gender and seat belt use
- Check the survey form to make sure it is complete and wait for another vehicle
Materials Needed
- Survey forms
- Pens (water resistant ink is best)
- Clip boards
- Fluorescent vest or other high visibility clothing
- Handout on child safety seat recommendations (optional)
The survey is a great opportunity to distribute information on child safety seats with contact information for your local health educator, injury prevention specialist, child safety seat distribution program, child safety seat technician, or any other local resources to help with child safety seat questions or installation.
Interviewers
- If you can, hire interviewers or find volunteers to help you collect data
The time needed to complete the survey depends on the number of people collecting data as well as the density of traffic at the sites. In our experience, 200 surveys can be completed in as few as two days or as many as 20. Depending on your resources and available staff, you may want to recruit local community members to assist in data collection which would allow you to cover several locations at the same time and complete your survey in fewer days. However, the entire survey could be completed by a single person, though this would take much longer. If you do hire additional staff or use staff in-kind from other programs, be sure to spend some time training on the survey protocol and conducting practice surveys before beginning data collection. For safety, interviewers should wear a fluorescent safety vest or something that identifies him or her as operating in an official capacity. Drivers respond better when they can easily see the interviewer approaching them and the interviewer looks friendly.
Interviewer training
If you do hire interviewers or find volunteers to help you, you will need to train them how to do surveys. Bring with you to the training:
- Printed copies of the survey form
- Pens
- [1/3 sheet printable with css info and pics of seats]
First, review child safety seat recommendations and the laws in your tribe and state. Make sure your interviewers are comfortable identifying a rear-facing infant seat, a forward-facing harness seat, and a booster seat, For more information, go to: http://www.safercar.gov/parents/RightSeat.htm
Next, review the survey protocol and survey form. Show the video of interview. Have your interviewers practice filling out the form. Then, have them practice on a set-up vehicle/driver.
Now, you’re ready to start collecting data! Take your interviewers to your first data collection site – the clinic, gas station, or grocery store, for example. Stay with your interviewers for first few surveys to make sure they are confident. Check their survey forms to make sure they are complete. When your interviewers are comfortable collecting data on their own, you can make a plan for who will be collecting data at what site. Check in with your interviewers regularly and change the data collection plan as needed.
When to do the survey
- Spring
- Fall
For the safety of data collectors, the surveys should be conducted only during daylight hours. This is also when children are most likely to be traveling in vehicles. Since the surveys are conducted outside, winter might not be the most feasible time for the survey. Spring and fall are good times for the survey because the weather can be milder and schools are in session. If you conduct the survey during the summer, keep in mind that there are seasonal differences in how people travel, especially when school is not in session. Whenever you choose to do your survey, it is best to repeat the survey during the same season in the future to obtain a reliable comparison over time.
How many surveys to complete
- 100 if you want a valid estimate of proper child restraint
- 200 if you want to track changes over time
The number of surveys that need to be done depends on the size of the community and the proportion of children who are properly restrained. We recommend doing 200 on average, which will give most communities a valid estimate of proper restraint and enough statistical power to track changes over time. A larger community may need to do more observations and a smaller community may need to do fewer. If you are only looking to get a valid estimate of proper child restraint, and not track statistically significant changes over time, 100 surveys will likely be enough.
Power
The table below gives the number of observational interviews to complete to give 95% confidence that the proportion of properly restrained children you observe is the true population value, ±5%, given an average of 1.4 children observed per vehicle. This requires an estimate of the number of children age 8 or under in the community and an estimate of the proportion of those children who are properly restrained. If you have no idea the proportion of properly restrained children in your community or tribe, an estimate of 50% is the most conservative. If you do not know the population of children in the area, but do know the entire community population, you can estimate that children age 8 and younger make up 17% of the total population in the average American Indian community (U.S. Census). Area Epidemiology Centers are a good resource for tribes who need assistance determining how many observations are needed for a representative sample of the community.
Table. Number of observational interviews to complete for a 5% margin of
| Estimated proportion of properly restrained children |
Number of children age 8 or younger in the community |
|||||
| 100 | 250 | 500 | 1000 | 1500 | 2000 | |
| 30% | 55 | 101 | 141 | 174 | 190 | 199 |
| 40% | 56 | 106 | 152 | 193 | 212 | 223 |
| 50% | 57 | 109 | 156 | 199 | 219 | 231 |
| 60% | 56 | 106 | 152 | 193 | 212 | 223 |
| 70% | 55 | 101 | 141 | 174 | 190 | 199 |
| 80% | 51 | 89 | 118 | 141 | 151 | 156 |
| 90% | 42 | 64 | 78 | 87 | 91 | 93 |
Data Entry
Download EpiInfo (link) Free software. Copy files and paste to desktop.
How to make EpiInfo form https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z44JS44O9x4
Analysis
How to calculate proper restraint – NHTSA/AAP guidelines.
AAP Policy statement: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/03/21/peds.2011-0213.abstract
Car seat guide for families: http://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/Pages/Car-Safety-Seats-Information-for-Families.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token
http://www.safercar.gov/cpsApp/crs/index.htm