"Give Kids a Boost" Campaign
Phoenix, Arizona

Project Type: Community education campaign with classroom-based booster seat education program

State Law at Time of Project Implementation: Arizona's child restraint law did not require booster seats during the 2 years of program implementation. Child safety seats were required only for children who are younger than 5 years old. A child safety seat was not required if all of the vehicle's safety belts were in use.

Purpose: To conduct a citywide outreach and education campaign promoting booster seat use and to pilot-test a booster seat education program in a high-risk, low-income, culturally diverse community within the city.

Primary Audience(s): Parents, teachers, Head Start personnel, and targeted children

Project Reach: Phoenix metropolitan area

Project Description: This project used a community-based, integrated marketing and communications approach to increase knowledge and raise awareness of the importance of booster seats. This approach was coupled with a school-based, bilingual education program (Spanish/English) for children in Head Start and kindergarten classes in a high-risk, low-income, culturally diverse community within the city. The provision of free booster seats to low-income families was an integral part of this project.

Key Project Elements: Though listed sequentially, implementation of these elements occurred at different times throughout the project:

• Data collection to obtain baseline and followup measures of booster seat use at Westwood Elementary School and at the Alhambra, Golden Gate, and Roosevelt Head Start programs.

• Development of a "Give Kids a Boost" Partnership Council comprising 20 public and private-sector organizations.

• Outreach to and education of intermediaries who could help promote booster seat use, including health professionals, public school educators, firefighters, and childcare professionals. This outreach activity included a survey of physicians' knowledge of booster seat use.

• A multimedia public awareness and information campaign, including public service advertising and collateral materials.

• Placement of a child safety seat message on a statewide hotline.

• Development and maintenance of a booster seat web site.

• Community child safety seat/booster seat inspection clinics.

• Training classes on correct use of child safety seats and booster seats.

• Distribution of free booster seats.

• Development and implementation of a bilingual education program for students, teachers, administrators, caseworkers, and family members of children attending kindergarten and Head Start programs.

• Production of educational display boards for the classroom.

Program Evaluation Methods: The project team used process measures (number of coupons distributed/redeemed, number of booster seat training sessions, etc.) to document the reach and level of participation in all aspects of the project. They used pre- and post-intervention observations of booster seat use to measure the effectiveness of the educational program at each school.

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Key Programmatic Findings and Lessons Learned

• There should not be more than 20 participants in a group when instructing adults about crash dynamics and the importance of using booster seats.

• Harnesses/vests were appreciated by parents and children as a safe alternative for use in older vehicles (see Know the Facts About Booster Seats).

• The majority of the adult community, regardless of socioeconomic status, does not know what is safe for young child passengers. They believe that the State law provides for the necessary safety measures. Even when following the requirements set forth by State law, the law is not always followed properly nor are booster seats always properly used and installed.

• Information about booster seat use must be written in many languages to accommodate adults who do not speak English as their first language.

• When working with underserved, culturally diverse populations, communities must devise approaches for addressing cultural and language barriers, economic barriers (vehicles with lap-only safety belts, lack of funds to purchase booster seats), and educational barriers (difficulty grasping the dynamics of a crash, not understanding the need to buckle up each time [for all people]).

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