A RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF AN INTERVENTION TO PREVENT LAWNMOWER INJURIES IN CHILDREN

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports about 60 000 emerg ency room visits for lawnmower injuries annually with 20% to children under 15 years. Employing a randomized pre-post control group design, the current study evaluated a 20-minute video intervention to increase parents' (n = 80) safety awareness and preventive actions. The settin g was an outpatient clinic at a Children's Hospital. Differences favor ing the intervention group were found for four of six behavior outcome s. For example, the proportion reporting never allowing children near operating mowers increased from half to two-thirds with no change amon g comparison group parents. In addition, significant increases in seve rity beliefs were found. The results provide formative support for the video intervention which possesses the key advantages of ease of use and constancy of message. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Irela nd Ltd.