Recent research on attempts to motivate large-scale safety belt use has documented a number of shortcoming, including limited long-term evaluation data, excessive costs, short-lived intervention effects, and program delivery by outside agencies rather than indigenous personnel. The present study attempted to overcome these disadvantages. Specifically, the "Buckle-up for Bucks" safety belt promotion campaign conducted at a community hospital incorporated the following: a) indigenous hospital staff as program sponsors, delivery agents, and co-coordinators; b) a year-long program evaluation; and c) a combination incentive and commitment-based intervention program. Directed and coordinated through the Office of Community Relations, the hospital-based intervention included awareness sessions, randomly determined five-dollar a week cash incentives, and a commitment-based pledge card strategy. To be eligible to win the incentives, the staff members met the following contingencies: a) wore a safety belt; b) signed a pledge card; c) displayed the signed pledge card on their dashboard; and d) pledged for a duration that ensured eligibility. The evaluation data were collected for four phases: baseline, intervention, withdrawal, and a long-term, follow-up. For the overall sample, usage increased from a baseline mean of 15.6% to 34.7% during the intervention, decreased to 25.6 at withdrawal, and increased to a long-term follow-up mean of 28.6%. For the Pledge card signers and the Non-singers, usage increased from baseline means of 29.4% and 11.8% to intervention usage rates of 75.1% and 17.7%, respectively, demonstrating that the intervention had a differential effect on the signers and non-signers. Withdrawal and Follow-up usage rates were 56.0% and 44.9% for the Pledge group, and 17.2% and 22.1% for the Non-pledge group. A chi-square test for white noise indicated the data were autocorrelated. A time-series analysis was conducted to remove the serial dependency. Statistical significance of the intervention was examined from the time-series perspective and traditional analysis of variance procedures. Differences between approaches are addressed and theoretical explanations for the intervention effects are considered. Finally, suggestions for future research are offered. / M.S.

Where can state, local and federal government officials concentrate their resources in order to reduce the highway fatality rate? A highway fatality model was developed to determine which factor has the greatest positive or negative impact on the highway fatality rate. A cross-section of data from states for 1984 and 1985 was collected for the following variables: average speed, speed variance, percentage of drivers wearing seat belts, percentage of licensed male drivers, percentage of drivers under 25 years of age, drinking age for beer, per capita alcohol consumption, percentage of urban population, and percentage of urban roads. The highway fatality equation was estimated via an iterative approach using ordinary least squares. The variables testing significant include: average speed, speed variance, drinking age for beer, percentage of drivers under 25 years of age, and percentage of urban roads. When translating the results into a policy action, it was determined that keeping the speed limit at 55 MPH on rural interstates would prevent the greatest number of traffic fatalities. Other policy actions considered in order of their impact on highway fatalities include: more stringent enforcement of the 55 MPH speed limit, restricting teenage night-time driving, raising the driving age to 17 years of age, and raising the drinking age for beer to 21 in the seven remaining states. / M.A.

A pledge card program designed to motivate safety belt use was implemented at a Baptist church in Blacksburg, Virginia. The intervention consisted of an educational insert and pledge card which were included in church bulletins on one Sunday morning. The insert described the risk of injury on highways and added a prompt for parents to provide positive role models for their children by wearing safety belts. The pledge card included a statement that signers would buckle their safety belts for four weeks when traveling. Data were collected at predetermined time periods on Sunday mornings between January 29 and May 20, 1984. The study consisted of five phases: Unannounced Baseline, Announced Baseline, Pledge Period, Follow-Up, and Long-Term Follow-Up. Ten percent of 441 individuals attending church when the pledge cards were distributed signed and returned a pledge card. Results revealed that shoulder belt use of pledge card signers increased significantly after signing the pledge cards, while shoulder belt use of non-signers did not significantly increase. In addition, shoulder belt usage of females was significantly higher than shoulder belt usage of males following the announcement of the research and throughout the remainder of the study. Evidence of participant reactivity is also presented. Suggestions are made for mitigating reactivity, for achieving greater impact on males, and for motivating more males and females to sign pledge cards. / Master of Science

A field study investigated the relevancy of certain theories in applied psychology for increasing vehicle safety belt use by children. Five different intervention activities applied either extrinsic rewards, or focused on the development of intrinsic motivation (e.g., personal commitment, awareness, active participation). The subjects were 138 children, aged five to eleven years, who attended five 30-min safety belt intervention activities as part of a summer recreation program conducted at three elementary schools. Safety belt use by children and their parents was directly observed and coded by vehicle license number both before and after the interventions. Coupons for free food at a fast food restaurant were distributed to participants by the school personnel, and safety belt use was observed at the restaurant's drive-thru window to assess generalization. The results revealed that participants from all three reward contingency conditions (i.e., rewards for safety belt use, participation, and noncontingent rewards) significantly increased their frequency of safety belt use from the baseline to intervention phase. The parents, although not direct participants in the program, showed similar increases in safety belt use. The increase in safety belt use also generalized to the fast food restaurant for both children and parents; however this effect was transient. Data collected during a three-week withdrawal period indicated that safety belt use decreased slightly among participants rewarded for belt use during the intervention, whereas safety belt use increased slightly for those who received noncontingent rewards or rewards for participation. This finding is consistent with "minimal justification" and "intrinsic motivation" theories and suggests that long-term maintenance and generalization of changes in safety belt use are inversely related to the degree of external control exerted to motivate safety belt use. From an application perspective, this research developed practical community-based interventions for increasing the use of safety belts among children, and demonstrated that behavior change among children may influence the safety belt use of other members in their family. / Ph. D.

This study examined the parameters under which risk compensation in driving can occur due to the use of safety belts. Risk compensation theories hypothesize that if individuals wear safety belts, they will . drive in a more risky manner than if they do not wear safety belts due to the increased perception of safety they provide. Although much of the current literature has debated the existence of risk compensation in driving for many years, until the current study an experimental analysis of the effect has not yet been conducted that permits a controlled examination of both between-subject and within-subject effects. Risk compensation was not found in the between-subject analyses of the present research, however the within-subject analyses demonstrated the risk compensation effect. Subjects drove significantly faster when they switched from not wearing a safety belt to wearing a safety belt than subjects who either did not switch belt use or drivers who switched from safety belt use to safety belt non-use. The study also suggested that the mechanism by which risk compensation occurs is that safety belt use makes drivers feel safer when they can compare the sensations wearing a safety belt vs. those when not wearing a safety belt. The risk compensation effect probably did not manifest itself in the between-subject studies because this comparison did not (and could not) take place. The implications of this study to driving real automobiles on multi-user roadways is discussed. Suggestions and examples of possible research to further expand the knowledge about how and when risk compensation occurs are also provided. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata