Words: 3003
Zachary Crummer Ms Beckinsale, HEA121A Evaluation of Intervention/Prevention Strategy Year 12 Health, Unit Road Trauma In Queensland young adult road users (aged 17-24 years) are almost three times higher than the risk of the average Queenslander to die road crashes each year, and higher still for young drivers in rural areas.
Research has shown the biggest factor contributing to young driver road crash fatalities is inexperience, although other key factors include; overconfidence, coping with distractions whilst driving, tendency to drive at high risk times, alcohol and drugs and engaging in risk taking behaviour. Sunshine Beach State High School senior health students recently completed a task which encapsulated and highlighted not only the main causes alongside the alarming statistics of fatalities involving young adult drivers on Queensland roads, but the effects these deaths have on the community as a whole.
Realising the earnest of the issue, students put together a presentation intended to marginalise and promote the awareness of road safety and Fatality Free Friday, to Year 11 peers eligible to obtain their learner permits throughout this year. Ideally the presentation sought to influence the audiences’ behaviour on the road by increasing the awareness of road safety thus decreasing the number of preventable teenage road accidents in our local community. With the completion of the presentation, students noted the unsuccessful and successful strategies.
In hindsight it is believed that more preparation time would have proved the presentation to be highly successful. It is also believed that a different approach with the presentation would have accomplished more attentive consideration from the audience. “Road safety education programs which aim to change the behaviour of participants need to be tailored to the specific target group. Young people need to feel that a program is relevant to them and, in order to engage interest, the program must be meaningful and developmentally appropriate.
Researching the needs of young people is critical and should occur prior to the development and delivery of a program. This research might involve focus groups or interviews with target groups (for example, school staff, students or parents). ” (http://www. transport. qld. gov. au/resources/file/ebc13d4fb6e8924/Literature_review. pdf) In the presenter’s reflection of the presentation (Appendix 5), students noted that with the completion of their tasks the speech had relevant, interesting information.
They also made the assumption that because the presentation was delivered by students the audience was able to relate more. “The risk taking behaviours demonstrated by adolescents are generally related to the social activities they engage in. Many studies have found a relationship between a young person’s behaviour and their friends’ behaviour… Similarly, the positive influence of others can reduce the likelihood of being involved in crashes. ” (http://www. transport. qld. gov. au/resources/file/ebc13d4fb6e8924/Literature_review. df) Both these were successful factors of the presentation although there were technical barriers with the side show as the videos would not play. This resulted in focus loss amongst the audience, drawing their attention away from the issue. Also in the presenters’ reflection (Appendix 5), they noted a microphone could have been used as the sound efficiency at the back of the room was limited, and in act of this it was hard to re-acquire the audience’s attention. It is believed that students should have focused more on interactive methods of incorporating the audiences’ participation into the presentation.
At one point the senior health class suggested a visual, interactive display of the number deaths by the audience on Queensland roads prior and up to the presentation day, although this was not included in the speech. “Effective programs typically require the active involvement of participants, rather than information presented in lecture format… Tobler and Stratton (Tobler N. S. and H. H. Stratton. Effectiveness of school-based drug prevention programs: A meta-analysis of the research. Journal of Primary Prevention. Vol. 18, 1997, pp. 71-128. identified interactive programs to be at least twice, and up to four times, more effective than non-interactive programs. McBride suggested that the benefits of interaction include the exchange of ideas and experiences, the opportunity to practice new skills and the ability to obtain feedback on the skills that are practiced. ” (http://www. transport. qld. gov. au/resources/file/ebc13d4fb6e8924/Literature_review. pdf) The technology team (Appendix 4) managed to effectively change and up date last years presentation although did not take into consideration the psychological factors when inserting shocking imagery.
Throughout the presentation there were a number of short films that showed the main factors associated with young adult road crashes but the film only managed to hold the audiences attention until it stopped. This therefore resulted in lack of attention as the audience felt an urge to talk about the shocking imagery. “Components that set out to shock, traumatise or evoke fear (for example, presenting graphic images of crashes) as some students can develop anxiety disorders. Also research indicates that this method of delivery does not lead to lasting behaviour change for this audience. ” (http://www. transport. qld. gov. u/resources/file/ebc13d4fb6e8924/Literature_review. pdf) To regain the audience’s attention the presenters may choose to use interactive techniques for example the use of a guest speaker or an interactive questionnaires, which do not give rewards as again this would result in a loss of concentration with the topic and a gain of interest with the prize, in the act of this the audience would not absorb important information. The advertising team (Appendix 5) succeeded in the awareness of Fatality Free Friday to both students, Community parents and teachers, although could have advertised the presentation to the wider community.
The school’s Principal and other members of administration did not attend. This is a barrier as teachers and parents provide a positive role model for students and young adults. As the Principal did not attend it shows the school negatively, not producing a positive outlook on road safety. This barrier could have been over come if the advertising team directly invited the Principal to the presentation making sure it was done ahead of the scheduled date so the principle was able to attend. “Parents and peers can influence a young person’s attitude towards, and likelihood of being involved in, risk-taking behaviours.
If young people are surrounded by people with a positive view of risky behaviours, they are more likely to engage in such behaviours themselves. They may perceive dangerous behaviour to be more socially acceptable or that there is a minimal chance of being hurt or caught as a result. They may even believe that others will think more highly of them for doing so. In contrast, if a young person feels that their parents monitor a large part of their behaviour (for example, supervising their activities, restricting car use and modelling safe road use behaviours) they are less likely to be killed or injured on the road. (http://www. transport. qld. gov. au/resources/file/ebc13d4fb6e8924/Literature_review. pdf) At the completion of the presentation the data collection group (Appendix 6) passed around an optional survey. This was a success as only one survey was not answered. The survey was initially designed to collaborate whether students took in the information and if as a result would change their road behaviours. In response to the direct question, “Will you change your driving habits? “, 67% of responses said the would change their behaviours. Appendix 1) Although this is the larger percentage of the audience the presentation only managed to give slight awareness of road safety and the effects it has on the surrounding community. Although from the data collected the students did have a positive outlook on courses that are available to them as approximately 92% responded positively to whether or not they would consider and participate in courses such as Road Craft, Fatality Free Friday and Share my story. (Appendix 2) There were however barriers in the delivery and return of the questionnaires.
A broader range of questions could have been selected, perhaps the participant mentioning their sex as not only do studies show males have a high crash rate then females but the attitudes of a male driver are more dominant. “Young people (17-25) are the most ‘at risk’ road user group by age. It is estimated that they have a two and a half to three times greater risk of being involved in a fatal crash than individuals in other age groups. This pattern is especially true among young males, who have a three times greater risk of road death and injury than young females. (http://www. transport. qld. gov. au/resources/file/ebc13d4fb6e8924/Literature_review. pdf) The following Friday, “Fatality Free Friday” was celebrated amongst our school community, a success as it made students aware of the demanding issue of road safety. It is presumed that the majority of the school community either signed up for Fatality Free Friday or associated with the importance of the event. The year 12 health class were asked to follow up on the assignment in correspondence to whether or not students took the incentive to take to pledge with Fatality Free Friday.
Students were asked to pass around a signup sheet for Fatality Free Friday. Personally, it was a success as I managed to obtain 25 signatures. The event of Fatality Free Friday in a broader spectrum across Australia achieved positive involvement as there were only two deaths on Australian roads on that date, which is the lowest rate of fatalities since the creation of the event. As a whole the presentation had few successes. The presentation managed to engage the audience long enough to produce awareness of the issue but I believe it did not target the audiences behavioural outlook on the road safety in our local community.
It is believed the following key points should be taken into consideration for the production for the road safety presentation for the next senior health class of 2011. Communication – Better communication between teams would result in the production running without error and the teamwork overall would make for a more efficient schedule. Preparation Time – An extended preparation time would result ideally in the run through of the presentation before the performance. Dose – “The evidence for the required ‘dose’ of road safety education needed in order for it to be effective (i. e. he amount and intensity of program material, the number and length of sessions) has not yet been established. Road safety education programs vary widely in duration and length, from a single hour session to multiple sessions with boosters in subsequent years. Typically, effective road safety education programs do include at least a follow-up session in later years to reinforce the messages. Research from the field of drink driving interventions (Wells-Parker E. , R. Bangert-Drowns, R. McMillen and M. Williams. Final results from a meta-analysis of remedial interventions with drink/drive offenders. Addiction.
Vol. 90, 1995, pp. 907-926. ) suggests that programs of longer duration are not necessarily more effective, but that systematic programs spread over time (for example, one hour sessions run weekly for 10 weeks) are more likely to result in behaviour change. In practice, it is rare that extended periods of time are available within the school day, and even the most formally structured programs are rarely delivered exactly as designed. It is generally recognised that a single, one-off road safety education program is unlikely to be able to adequately cover many facets of safe driving or safe road use behaviour.
As such, it is recommended that any single training session be very limited in topics. Training that is potentially too ambitious, in attempting to cover a number of topics in a short space of time, might run the risk of being less effective. A longer-term program has the potential to encompass a comprehensive range of situations and result in longer retention of key messages by students. ” (http://www. transport. qld. gov. au/resources/file/ebc13d4fb6e8924/Literature_review. pdf) Research suggests that a positive approach on road safety has a greater impact then the involvement of fear.
Students should try to provide a positive outlook on road trauma in order to create a Creative supportive environment that identifies personal support networks and programs. “A number of studies have shown that fear-based education has little impact on the audience. Research also suggests that exposing some young people to traumatising experiences such as visiting morgues to view road crash victims, watching graphic emergency services presentations on road crashes or re-enactments of serious road crashes can be detrimental to some participants.
While most young people will forget these experiences, some may develop acute stress or post traumatic stress disorders which can have devastating impacts on mental health and which are difficult to treat. ” (http://www. transport. qld. gov. au/resources/file/ebc13d4fb6e8924/Literature_review. pdf) As young people have been found to have a greater tolerance for socially unacceptable behaviours and risks it is believed that the school and surrounding community should enforce the correct learning atmosphere in order to change these behaviours.
Each point of interest suggested in the essay should be taken into consideration and awareness of this issue confronted as road safety amongst teenagers and young adults is a result of a poor creative supportive environment. The presentation successfully pushed forward the earnest of the issue, but as we are unable to measure the exact success rate of the presentation we do not know whether the presentation had an immediate effect on the audience’s road behaviour. Appendixes 1 2 3 – Presenter’s Reflection Tasks * Alter the speech and present it to the Year 11’s Updated the local crash to a recent story * Worked with slideshow group and computer setup to make sure slides matched up. Worked well * Speech had interesting, relevant information * Because the presentation was delivered by students, our peers were more likely to listen Didn’t work well * Had technical difficulties with videos, kids lost focus and were laughing * Was hard to project voices to the people at the back; microphone could have been used 4 – Technology Teams Reflection What we did * Went through the slideshow with a copy of the speech and made sure everything was in the correct order.
We made sure we knew exactly went to change the slide, and which slides were the videos * We set up the technical aspects of the presentation, such as the speakers, the laptop and the projector * We controlled the lighting, we made it so that when the presenters were speaking the lights were on, and when the videos came on the lights went off. * Barriers and limitations * The was a minor technical difficulty with the videos as when they were playing they were in slow motion To overcome this we could have Run through the whole presentation more then once, and someone with an extended knowledge in computers would have acknowledged that it could be fixed 5 – Advertising Teams Reflection Advertising group: Wrote a note In the notices notifying yr 11 students of HRE on the Monday of the presentation. Letter to admin: Wrote a letter to admin asking wether any of the admin were available to attend the presentation. School billboard: Wrote a letter to Mr Fitz informing him of the dates of the presentation and taking the f. f. f pledge We could have had someone present or inform people of the dates of the presentation and fff in HRE or assembly.
Duties/task list * Sent an e-mail to the organisers of ‘fatality free Friday’, requesting posters and balloons (any promotion stuff) * An e-mail was sent to all students informing them about the event and the importance of ‘fatality free Friday’ * Balloons and posters were hung up around the school and in the actual forum room (PA block) * Made sure that students outside were quiet when the forum was being conducted. * Obtain signatures of students that agreed to taking the ‘fatality free Friday’ pledge. Actually carried out the duties and task list provided POSTIVES The task list was completed and it was mainly successful.
The posters were effective and the balloons worked well to make the room look more interesting. Using these forms of advertisement established what the forum was going to be about and gained their interest at the same time. NEGATIVES The e-mail that was sent out was seen as a barrier as there were technical difficulties involved. The e-mail was titled ‘Failed to Send’. However, it was apparent that when the e-mail was clicked on, the e-mail was actually there. Overall, this form of advertisement could have been improved though did have some impact. IMPROVEMENTS Improvements could have been made to these duties and how they were carried out.
If the posters were put up earlier, more notice would have been taken. If we had more posters they could have been placed in more places around the school prior to the forum, thus creating more awareness. It would have also been beneficial for year 12 health students to take posters around to each class and give a quick reminder of the upcoming ‘fatality free Friday’ event, thus creating awareness within the student and teacher bodies. 6- Data Collection Group Duties – To design, distribute and analyse a questionnaire aimed at the effectiveness of the class presentation.
Completion of Duties – All duties were completed What worked/was successful? * The results from the questions were a good outcome * It was effective as our class is able to obtain information on how successful the presentation was, alongside the majority of questionnaires were answered. What wasn’t successful? -The range of questions – The demonstration (students stand up) wasn’t done, which affected the questionnaire – Better distribution of questionnaire sheets to students What could be done better? – Larger range of questions – Presentation (set out) of questionnaire – The distribution of the questionnaires