National Injury Prevention Foundation

ThinkFirst Chapter Development:Provide Educational Programs for Injury Prevention

Traumatic Injury

• Leading cause of death for children, teens and young adults

• Due to vehicle crashes, violence, falls and sports• Brain and spinal cord injuries are among the most

devastating, leading to permanent disability and death

Most injuries are preventable!

Mission

ThinkFirst’s mission is to prevent brain, spinal cord and other traumatic injury

through education, research and advocacy.

ThinkFirst Components

• Educational programs for all grades

• Reinforcement

• General public education

• Public policy initiatives

Programs

In select chapters:

• ThinkFirst For Your Baby

• ThinkFirst For Life: Falls Prevention

ThinkFirst For Kids

ThinkFirst For Youth

Community Events

ThinkFirst For Teens

ThinkFirst For Teens Components

• Presentation by Injury Prevention Specialist -- Explaining HOW Injuries Affect Us

• Explain the causes of injuries and the importance of safe choices

VIPs: Voices for Injury Prevention:share their personal story as to how their injury occurred, how it has affected their life, and how it could have been prevented

Why is ThinkFirst Effective?

Educational programs are designed to incorporate all elements of the

Health Belief Model

a theory-based health model for

attaining behavior change

Health Belief Model

• Behavior change depends on individuals:– Perceiving themselves as susceptible

– Seeing the problem as serious

– Being convinced preventive actions are effective and of little cost in money, effort or pain

– Being exposed to cues or reminders

– Believing they have the ability to change their behavior

ThinkFirst Programs:

• Presented by injury prevention specialists and people who have experienced a TBI/SCI

• Increase understanding of high incidence, and permanent effects of TBI/SCI

• Cue students on easy ways to prevent most injuries

But what is the impact of ThinkFirst For Teens?

Pretest-posttest EvaluationGerhardstein, 2006

• Three Chicago suburban high schools• 500 students, grades 9/10 • Pretests – presentation – posttest• Knowledge, attitudes, stated behaviors• Evaluation 3 months later

Safety Belt Use

53%

73%

32%

20%

12%

5% 3% 2%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Very important Important Somewhat important Not imporant

How important do you feel it is for you to wear a safety belt in a vehicle?

Pre-Test Post-Test

Safety Belt Use

5% 4%

10%

5%

38%

22%

46%

69%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Only if I have to Sometimes Most of the time Always

How often do you (now plan to) wear a safety belt?

Pre-Test Post-Test

Bicycle Helmets

43%

9%

35%

31%

14%

31%

8%

29%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Not important Somew hat important Important Very Important

How important do you feel it is for you to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle?

Pre-Test Post-Test

Bicycle Helmets

43%

9%

35%

31%

14%

31%

8%

29%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Not important Somew hat important Important Very Important

How important do you feel it is for you to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle?

Pre-Test Post-Test

Drinking and Driving

46%

59%

6% 7%

13%11% 9%

7%5% 4%

16%

9%

6%4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Any alcohol One beer Two beers Three beers Four beers If he/shelooked drunk

If he/shelooked very

drunk

If a friend had this number of beers, I would refuse to let him/her drive

Pre-Test Post-Test

General Safety

5%

2%

27%

15%

46%

33%

22%

49%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Not preventable Sometimes preventable Often preventable Almost always preventable

Injuries are:

Pre-Test Post-Test

Making Safe Choices

2% 2%

18%

9%

45%

33% 34%

56%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Not important Somewhat important Important Very important

I think making safe choices to protect myself from injury is:

Pre-Test Post-Test

What Has Influenced You Most?

34%

26%

15%

7%

51%

67%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Facts on injury prevention Potential for a ticket Hearing from someone who hasbeen injured

What has influenced you the most in making safe choices?

Pre-Test Post-Test

Three-month Posttest

• What do you remember about program?– VIP speaker: 83%– Various safety messages: 46%

• Did the program impact your behavior? How?– Yes, various ways: 77%

• 26% now wear safety belt all the time or more often• 24% now realize risk/consequence of their actions• 17% reinforced what they knew they should do• 14% now make safe choices/think first

• Did the program impact your behavior, continued– 4% stated no, because they already knew the

information

– 9% stated no, or not really

• Was the presentation helpful?– 96% Yes

– 4% No

• Comments– 31% positive comments on program or thanks

– No negative comments

Study Conclusion

• Summary– ↑ Understanding of potential for serious injury– ↑ Understanding that injuries are preventable– ↑Understanding behavior choices are important– Believe they have the ability to change behavior– Effectiveness of hearing from someone injured– Long term, students indicate TF had positive

impact on their behavior w/ respect to implementing safety measures

Reinforcement: Posters in Classrooms

ThinkFirst Missouri

Training and Program Development

ThinkFirst International

Starting a ThinkFirst Chapter

• Determine a chapter director and sponsoring physician

• Establish funding agency: usually in healthcare settings (Community Education, PT/OT, Trauma, Marketing), medical schools, physician groups,

or non-conventional• Submit chapter application and fee for approval• Attend one-day training, on site or online

Application Fee

• $1,500 fee (ask about current specials) includes:– Training and training materials– Chapter Director Guidebook– Curriculum and DVD for ThinkFirst For Kids – Curriculum for ThinkFirst For Youth– DVD and Power Point for ThinkFirst For Teens– VIP Training DVD

Chapter Training

• Provided by a ThinkFirst Trainer

• Available at Trainer sites

• Available in an interactive online format

• Available onsite – chapter must cover travel expenses for trainer

Change in Director

• If the chapter director changes, the chapter must submit a chapter director change form, new director’s CV, and $250 fee for training

• The new director must complete training through a ThinkFirst trainer

Annual Chapter Requirements

• Annual Survey: link provided each June for chapter director to complete survey by July 30– Forms are provided in training for tracking

number of schools visited and students reached, to report in annual survey

• $250 membership fee, due each July 30– Provides active chapter status for use of ThinkFirst

name, materials, updates and support

Benefits of Becoming a ThinkFirst Chapter

• Play an active role in reducing injuries in your community and among your staff

• Demonstrates community reinvestment• Marketing/PR interest– human interest stories for

media coverage• Fits with other key service lines such as neuro,

peds and trauma• Instrumental with magnet and award applications

Benefits, continued

• Affiliation with a Nationally known injury prevention organization

• Studies to demonstrate the programs you provide are evidence-based

• Educational and supportive materials produced by ThinkFirst Foundation

• Training, support and a network of chapters• Newsletters, updates on injury prevention issues• Referrals from national office and state chapter• Chapter contact information on www.thinkfirst.org• Web linking

Help Us Reduce Injuries!

• Start a ThinkFirst chapter!• Promote ThinkFirst and safety awareness through

education and school programming• Advocate for injury prevention issues• Financially sponsor ThinkFirst at the local and

national levels

For More Information

ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation

Debby Gerhardstein, Executive Director

Diane Ciambrone, Administrative Assistant

1-800-THINK56

thinkfirst@thinkfirst.org

www.thinkfirst.org