Parent education: its effect on the way children are transported in cars.

The effect of health education material on how parents transported their children in cars was observed. The study sample consisted of 380 mothers in a maternity hospital. There were three groups. One served as a control; another received pamphlets on child car safety; the third received pamphlets and viewed a film. How their babies were transported home was recorded and repeat observations noted six months later on 288 infants. Initially 18 percent of the controls transported their infants appropriately. At follow-up the percentage was 62. The equivalent percentages for group 2 were 37 and 60, for group 3, 49 and 62. The early changes between the control group and the others were significant (p less than 0.01, and p less than 0.001). Therefore this health education material should be routinely distributed in maternity hospitals. We did not explore the reasons for the improvement after six months in all groups, but it cannot be attributed to the material.