Clinical trial NCT02299427: A Website to Teach Children Safety With Dogs
Official title: A Website to Teach Children Safety With Dogs
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE1
Conditions: Child Dog Bite Prevention
Lead sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2014-11-24
Enrollment: 69
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 4
Maximum age (years): 6
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Dog bites result in over 800,000 doctor/ER visits, 6000 hospitalizations, and a dozen deaths each year in the United States. By a large margin, children suffer the highest risk - and children typically are bitten by familiar dogs in familiar places. Several programs exist to reduce pediatric dog bite risk, but few are empirically-supported or theoretically-motivated. None are widely disseminated. This study builds from existing child dog bite prevention programs to develop and then evaluate a website to teach children safe interactions with dogs. The website will be interactive, entertaining, and engaging, allowing children (target ages 4-6) to learn in a technologically-sophisticated and interactive environment. It will be developed based in behavioral theory. Hearkening child development theory, it will teach and permit practice of cognitive skills that develop in early childhood and are critical to safety with dogs: impulse control, perspective taking, and attention to details. Hearkening health behavior change theory, the website will help children and their parents perceive personal vulnerability to bites, recognize normative behavior to protect themselves, and have personal motivation to change previous habits. Overarching the website design will be goals to create an engaging and entertaining environment, and to facilitate cognitive and behavioral change on the part of both child and parent via multiple mechanisms. Besides teaching children, the website will educate parents via an innovative messaging system triggered by child attainment of points and "skill levels".

Following website development, an evaluation study will investigate usability and efficacy of the website using a repeated measures pre-test, post-test experimental design. 68 children ages 4-6 will be recruited, complete a pre-intervention assessment evaluating knowledge and behavior relevant to dog safety via multiple methods, and then be randomly assigned to use either the newly-developed dog safety website or a control pedestrian safety website at home over the subsequent 2 weeks. Frequent reminders will encourage website use. Following the 2-week period, all children will return for a post-intervention assessment battery to evaluate knowledge and behavior change. Data will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, with primary hypotheses tested using linear mixed models.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* parent and child speak English,
* exposure to dogs with some frequency,
* internet access at home

Exclusion Criteria:

* physical or disability preventing valid participation in study

Primary outcomes:
measure: Children's Behavior With Dogs on Standardized Objective Scale
timeFrame: post-intervention (about 2 weeks after pre-intervention assessment)
measure: Simulated Behavior With Dogs on Standardized Objective Scale
timeFrame: post-intervention (about 2 weeks after pre-intervention assessment)
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Birmingham
country: United States
facility: UAB Youth Safety Lab, University of Alabama at Birmingham
state: Alabama
Study officials:
References:
citation: Schwebel DC, McClure LA, Severson J. Evaluating a website to teach children safety with dogs. Inj Prev. 2015 Feb;21(1):e2. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2014-041286. Epub 2014 May 28.