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Teaching Teens & Parents about Traumatic Brain Injuries
Washington State Injury & Violence Prevention Program
Posted in: June, 2010
The Washington State Injury & Violence Prevention Program (IVPP) created a video to educate teens and their parents about traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). The project began when Kathy Williams, IVPP Trauma Prevention Specialist and members of the Washington State Traumatic Brain Injury Strategic Partnership Advisory Council met to discuss a joint project to prevent TBIs. A look at the data revealed that most TBIs to Washington residents under 24 years of age were sustained in motor vehicle crashes and that, each year, more than 260 teens in Washington State are hospitalized as a consequence of TBIs.
The Council and IVPP decided to develop a video to educate teens and their parents about the risk of TBI to novice and young drivers. This video, In An Instant, features compelling first-person accounts by TBI victims about how their lives were forever changed by an injury sustained during a motor vehicle collision. It also includes dramatic reports by law enforcement officers about responding to the scene of motor-vehicle tragedies involving young people. A physician from Harborview Medical Center, Washington State’s Level I trauma center, talks about the medical consequences of TBIs.
In An Instant shows teen drivers how they can reduce the risk of TBIs related to motor vehicle crashes by always wearing seat belts correctly, never driving after using alcohol or drugs, obeying the speed limit, and not driving while texting. The video also encourages parents to help their children comply with Washington State’s intermediate driving license law and to offer to pick up their children anyplace at anytime if that will help avoid a situation that puts teens at-risk of a motor vehicle crash - and a TBI. 120 of the 165 teens participating in an evaluation of the video said that they will always wear a seatbelt. 119 said they would not drive after drinking or using drugs.
A DVD including the video and other materials such as posters and bookmarks were distributed to several hundred private driving schools, and just under 100 high school driver education programs. The Department of Licensing recently instituted a rule that parents of teens in driving schools must attend an hour-long session to learn about the risks faced by young drivers and how to better mentor their children during the intermediate license period. Driving schools often show In An Instant during these “parents’ nights.” The IVPP has also used the video to educate professionals, including Children with Special Health Needs staff, the Young Driver Task Force, and regional EMS Quality Improvement Groups.
In An Instant can be viewed online at the TBI Council website (http://www.tbiwashington.org/). For more information, contact Kathy Williams, Trauma Prevention Specialist, Injury & Violence Prevention Program, Washington State Department of Health at kathy.williams@doh.wa.gov or 360-236-2862.