Using Virtual Reality to Train Children in Pedestrian Safety
Condition: Street-crossing Ability; Pedestrian Safety
Intervention: virtual pedestrian environment; computer and video; streetside training
Intervention description: a computer-driven virtual pedestrian environment; various computer-based and video-based programs such as Otto the Auto and WalkSafe; one-on-one training by an adult with the child at streetside locations, to teach children street-crossing skills
Phase: Phase 3
Study type: Interventional
Primary purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Enrollment: 240.0
Sex: All
Minimum age: 7 Years
Maximum age: 8 Years
Healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Keywords: pedestrian safety; street-crossing ability; road-crossing; children; injury prevention

Summary:

      Pedestrian injuries are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in American
      children ages 7-8, but existing behavior-oriented interventions achieve only modest success.
      One limitation to existing interventions is that they fail to provide children with the
      repeated practice needed to develop the complex perceptual and cognitive skills required for
      safe pedestrian activity.

      Virtual reality (VR) offers a highly promising technique to train children in pedestrian
      safety skills. VR permits repeated unsupervised practice without risk of injury; automated
      feedback to children on success or failure in crossings; adjustment of traffic density and
      speed to match children's skill level; and an appealing and fun environment for training. The
      proposed research is designed to test the efficacy of virtual reality as a tool to train
      child pedestrians in safe street-crossing behavior.

      A randomized controlled trial will be conducted with four equal-sized groups of children ages
      7-8 (total N = 240). One group will receive training in an interactive and immersive virtual
      pedestrian environment. The virtual environment, already developed, has been demonstrated to
      have face, construct, and convergent validity. The second group will receive pedestrian
      safety training via video and computer strategies that are most widely used in American
      schools today. The third group will receive what is judged to be the most efficacious
      treatment currently available, individualized behavioral training at streetside locations.
      The fourth and final group will serve as a no-contact control group. All participants in all
      groups will be exposed to a range of field- and laboratory-based measures of pedestrian skill
      during baseline and post-intervention visits, as well as during a six-month follow-up
      assessment. Primary analyses will be conducted through linear mixed models designed to test
      change over time in the four intervention groups. We hypothesize all children in active
      learning groups will increase pedestrian safety skills, but the largest increase will be
      among children in the virtual reality group.
    

Eligibility criteria:

        Inclusion Criteria:

          -  7 and 8 year old children living in Birmingham, Alabama, area

        Exclusion Criteria:

          -  family plans to move within 6 months of recruitment

          -  visual or perceptual impairment (e.g., blindness) that are uncorrected and would
             prevent valid participation in protocol

          -  physical impairment (e.g., use of wheelchair) that would prevent valid participation
             in protocol

          -  cognitive impairment (e.g., moderate mental retardation) that would prevent valid
             participation in protocol