An Educator’s Experience in a Community That Needed Education on Child Car Seat Safety

Teaching Experience Paper
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Teaching Experience Paper
Educational programs have played a vital role in achieving Healthy People 2020 objectives. Educational and community-based strategies continue to promote the health outcomes of individuals, families, and communities. These tools create awareness of community health problems and their associated risks. The public is informed of the issues and advised on the appropriate measures to address or prevent those problems. This paper discusses an educator’s experience in a community that needed education on child car seat safety. It highlights the teaching plan summary, epidemiological rationale for child car seat safety, evaluation of the teaching experience, community response, and the lesson's strengths and weaknesses.
Summary of Teaching Plan
The teaching plan is about child car seats and kids' safety. It highlights the safety procedures and recommendations parents need to consider to keep their children safe when riding in a vehicle. Car crashes are one of the leading causes of death and injury for children (Budziszewski et al., 2021). Each year, thousands of children die or get injured in car crashes. Proper use of car safety seats increases the safety of children. The teaching plan creates awareness of the child's car seat safety by first explaining the potential effects of the child's car seat on the child's health or safety. It then develops a health promotion plan that can be presented to caregivers to address child car seats and improve children’s overall health and well-being.
Next, the teaching plan offers recommendations on accident prevention and safety promotion associated with the child car seat and children’s health or safety. Interventions and evidence-based research related to child car seats and safety are also provided. Lastly, it provides caregivers with two community resources: a national resource and a web-based resource related to the topic. Overall, the plan offers caregivers an insight into measures they can take to promote a child's safety in the car. It uses a PowerPoint presentation to create this awareness.
Epidemiological Rationale for Topic
Car crashes are the number one killer of children aged 1 to 12 in the United States (NHTSA, 2022). In 2020, 607 children under 13 years died in vehicle crashes. About 211 of these children were unrestrained, and many others were improperly buckled up during the accident (NHTSA, 2022). In 2019, upwards of 600 children below 12 years died in car crashes, and over 91,000 were injured (CDC, 2021). Of the children between 1 and 12 years who died in the crash, about 38% were not restrained (CDC, 2021). Almost similar incidences occurred in 2018, where close to 636 children aged 12 and below died in a car crash (Ng et al., 2019). About 33% of these children were not buckled up (Ng et al., 2019).
Evidently, children's injuries and deaths in car crashes occur due to the non-use or improper use of car seats. In many incidences, parents were found not to use or install a child's car seat correctly. Hoffman et al. (2016) observed car seat misuse at discharge from the hospital after newborn delivery and found that 95% of car seats were not used correctly. Unfortunately, this trend continues because child car safety is not addressed at discharge as it should have been.
Most children's injuries and deaths in car crashes are preventable. Parents and caregivers can avoid these incidences by observing the recommended child car safety measures during every trip. Placing children in age and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats minimizes the chances of a child's injury and death in a car crash by more than half (Smola et al., 2020). Data shows that car seat for children lowers injury risk in crashes by 7-82% compared with a seat belt alone (CDC, 2021). A booster seat lowers serious injury risks by 45% for children aged 4-8 compared with a seat belt alone (CDC, 2021).
Evaluation of Teaching Experience
The teaching experience was predominantly positive because most participants were interested in the topic. In fact, the caregivers demonstrated emotional readiness to learn by attending the presentation on time. They also showed their willingness to engage in conversation topics related to the child's car seat. Additionally, they demonstrated their desire to learn by understanding the material presented and making plans to choose a proper car seat and learn how to position a child in a car seat and install a car seat. The participant's enthusiasm to know the car seat safety measures for children made the teaching enjoyable. It strengthened their cooperation during the presentation. Th...