@article {Smith289, author = {M L Smith and L R Berger}, title = {Assessing community child passenger safety efforts in three Northwest Tribes}, volume = {8}, number = {4}, pages = {289--292}, year = {2002}, doi = {10.1136/ip.8.4.289}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group Ltd}, abstract = {Objective: To identify strengths and weaknesses in community based child passenger safety programs by developing a scoring instrument and conducting observations of child restraint use in three Native American communities. Setting: The three communities are autonomous Tribal reservations in the Pacific Northwest. Their per capita incomes and rates of unemployment are comparable. Methods: In each community, 100 children under 5 years old were observed for car seat use. A six item community assessment tool (100 points maximum) awarded points for such items as the type (primary or secondary) and enforcement of child restraint laws; availability of car seats from distribution programs; extent of educational programs; and access to data on vehicle injuries. Results: For children from birth to 4 years, the car seat use rate ranged from 12\%{\textendash}21\%. Rates for infants (71\%{\textendash}80\%) far exceeded rates for 1{\textendash}4 year old children (5\%{\textendash}14\%). Community scores ranged from 0 to 31.5 points. There was no correlation between scores and observed car seat use. One reason was the total lack of enforcement of restraint laws. Conclusions: A community assessment tool can highlight weaknesses in child passenger efforts. Linking such a tool with an objective measure of impact can be applied to other injury problems, such as fire safety or domestic violence. The very process of creating and implementing a community assessment can enhance agency collaboration and publicize evidence based {\textquotedblleft}best practices{\textquotedblright} for injury prevention. Further study is needed to address methodologic issues and to examine crash and medical data in relation to community child passenger safety scores.}, issn = {1353-8047}, URL = {https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/8/4/289}, eprint = {https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/8/4/289.full.pdf}, journal = {Injury Prevention} }