title: Dog bites:  an opportunity for parent education in the pediatric emergency department.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study focuses on parental report of exposure to dogs and highlights the potential for using a computer kiosk in an urban pediatric emergency department to increase knowledge around dog bite safety.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine hundred one parents of young children completed a kiosk assessment and received a report that contained information aimed at increasing knowledge about either dog bite prevention (PAR-DB, n = 453) or other safety behaviors (PAR-S, n = 448). The participants who received the dog bite prevention report (PAR-DB) were asked questions about exposure to dogs as part of the baseline assessment. All participants were telephoned 2 to 4 weeks later for a follow-up interview to measure knowledge differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of respondents who answered the exposure questions reported seeing stray dogs (53%) and having dangerous dogs (43%) in their neighborhood. Few respondents reported that their child had been bitten by a dog (1%), but the majority (56%) reported having knowledge of another child having been bitten. Few respondents reported having a dog in their home (11%), and only 1 reported that her dog had bitten a child. A majority (56%) of dogs had not been spayed or neutered. Of families with dogs in the home, 20% reported leaving their child unattended with the dog. A minority (45%) of dogs left alone with children had been spayed or neutered.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PAR-DB parents achieved knowledge gains as a result of the Parent Action Report generated by the kiosk, demonstrating the potential to improve knowledge via a computer kiosk in a busy pediatric emergency department.
authors.affiliation: Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. wshields@jhsph.edu
authors.forename: Wendy C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stepnitz
authors.forename: Lara T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Gielen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001733:Bites and Stings / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004285:Dogs; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology