title: Promoting correct car seat use in parents of young children: challenges, recommendations, and implications for health communication.
abstract: Injuries involving motor vehicles continue to be the biggest threat to the safety of children. Although child safety seats (CSS) have been established as a central countermeasure in decreasing injury risk, the majority of parents do not use the correct car seat correctly. There are many challenges in promoting correct car seat use, which itself is a complex behavior. To advance this critical protective behavior, the public health community would benefit from clarifying CSS messaging, communicating clearly, and addressing the conflicting recommendations of product use. In this article, we present current challenges in promoting CSS use and draw on health communication and other fields to offer recommendations for future work in this area.
authors.affiliation: Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA. weavernl@slu.edu
authors.forename: Nancy L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Weaver
authors.forename: Suzanne N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Brixey
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Tonja R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Nansel
mesh_terms: D001336:Automobiles; D057207:Child Restraint Systems / Q000592:standards*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D058015:Health Communication; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control