Promoting Seat Belt Use: A Nursing Assignment

This nursing assignment discusses strategies to promote the use of seat belts in the UAE. Theoretical principles of psychology underpin the design of the program. Evaluation methods are also discussed.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Discussion............................................................................................................................2
Problem area....................................................................................................................2
Strategy............................................................................................................................2
Specific goals...................................................................................................................3
Techniques used...............................................................................................................4
Theoretical principles......................................................................................................5
Evaluation........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The assignments deal with personal responsibility as change agent to get people to adopt
“wearing seatbelts”. The purpose of the assignment is to apply social psychological concepts in
facilitating concerned change. The one most appropriate to attitude and behaviour change and
techniques would be used to persuade behaviour. The assignment presents strategies to change
the above mentioned behaviour.
Discussion
Problem area
There is a growing health concerns related to traffic. There is increasing number of
deaths due to accidents caused by not wearing seatbelts in UAE. According to Mohammed
(2015) 60% of the preventable road deaths in Abu Dhabi were due to motor and car drivers not
wearing seatbelt. The brunt of injuries associated with these accidents is faced by the developing
world. For communities with limited resources, this behaviour increases health care cost burden.
People demonstrate less knowledge of seat belt protection. It is necessary to promote wearing of
seatbelts among the card drivers and passengers
Strategy
The aim is to increase the number of people wearing seat belts in my own local
community (X). The rationale for choosing the above problem area is the safety aspects of seat
belt. It prevents the occupant from being ejected from vehicle and increase the time of bringing
body to stop (Torkamannejad et al., 2016).

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The strategy for promoting the conservation behaviour is the “Safety promotion
program”. To change the mindset, people driving vehicles from within the society will be
employed.
For this strategy active, unbiased and helpful workforce/volunteers would be chosen,
with experience to communicate with people. Assistance will be taken from local government
for mass awareness thorough campaign. The main aspect of the strategy would be pamphlet
distribution and advertisement. The promotion program would involve the local police agents for
successful outcomes, as they can better explain the consequences of not wearing seatbelts and
road accidents.
Specific goals
Goals Outcomes Time frame
1.Raise awareness about the
accidents and injuries caused by
not wearing seatbelts
More number of people
demonstrating the knowledge of
importance of wearing seat belt,
discipline and positive attitude
The time frame chosen for the
strategy is one year
First month- hire volunteers,
select camp locations,
outline/plan the entire program
(March 2018)
Eleven months- program
execution
Last month- evaluation of
campaign (Feb 2019)
2. Educate the target people
about the preventable death
from seat belt
Increased number of people
wearing seat belts than before
and accepting the severity of
situation
Decrease in defiance behaviour
3.Encourage the motorist and
car drivers to discuss obstacles
in wearing seat belt
Increased participation of the
target people in the promotional
events or campaigns
demonstrating willingness to

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prevent accidents and learn
safety belt aspects
Techniques used
Techniques used
Awareness programs in colleges and community
traffic parks
Educate about safety belt laws, penalties,
accidents, injuries, deaths, speed at cost of safety
Power point presentations
Video clips of messages from people disabled due
to accidents
Counselling sessions counselling professionals will make people realise
about importance of seat belt and why it is the
right thing to do
Use of rewards- free movie tickets and food court
pass (contingency management )
Motivational approach- participants to be
motivated and boost them to save their own and
others life
Psychotherapy- for people with impulse control
disorder and depression
Cultural recovery approach- Enforce discipline by
emphasising on social behaviour

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Advertisements Showing of camera and video evidence of people
and pamphlets
Employ celebrities
Social media pages
(Source: Jackson, 2013; Edelman et al., 2013)
Theoretical principles
The above strategies are under pinned by the psychological concept of social influence.
According to psychology experts any positive or negative behaviour is adopted due to social
pressure due to conformity, obedience and compliance. The awareness of injures and legal
actions of not wearing seat belt will lead to social pressure and conformity to use seat belts.
Educational awareness can change the attitude as people will know the benefits of wearing seat
belts and harms of not wearing. Educational interventions are based on the attribution theory,
where people’s behaviour is explained by personal and situational factors. The selection of
selfless volunteer is based on the concept of altruism. The volunteers would help in promoting
the use of seat belt selflessly by persuading people (Salgado, 2009).
When the elder in family obey the traffic safety rules the, the younger ones would also
demonstrate the conformity. Counselling sessions can eliminate negative stereotypes about the
seat belt and ignorant attitude of target people. It is also explained by role of perception, where
people follow favourite celebrities considering what they do is right. Therefore, advertisements
with celebrities would enforce positive social behaviour in target people owing to persuasion and
social influence. As per the scapegoat theory of stereotypes, people with frustration blame for

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faulty situation. Reduce temptation in people propelled to avoid seat belt despite knowing the
legal consequences and behave as indiscipline. Counselling will help overcome defiant
behaviour by persuasive messages (Salgado, 2009)
Evaluation
Several modes of measurement would be used to determine the success of the program for
promoting the wearing of seat belt. The time frame may be extended depending on feedback, and
outcomes.
 Collection of the internal statics of the program- to identify number the followers
on the social media sites (facebook and twitter), calculate the attendance of the
target people in campaigns and counselling sessions (Neiger et al., 2012)
 Statistics from licensed sites, and police statics (about number of people violating
the rule of wearing seat belt and frequency of number of people wearing seat
belt).
 Collection of participant’s feedback through survey- to assess their knowledge
about wearing seat belt, consequences of not wearing and perspective on it safety
aspect (Livingston et al., 2013)
 Record injury rates in one year
 Comparison of data from statistics with previous data (Posavac, 2015)
Conclusion
There is increasing incident of road accidents in UAE due to people not wearing seat
belts. Seatbelt can prevent serious injuries and is safety measure for drivers and passengers.
Therefore, seat belt promotion program has been designed to mitigate these issues for a time

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frame of one year (commencing from March 2018). Various strategies to be used in the
campaign and promotion program is discussed followed by plan of evaluation to determine the
expansion of the program. The theoretical principles of psychology underpin the design of
program.

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References
Edelman, C. L., Mandle, C. L., & Kudzma, E. C. (2013). Health Promotion Throughout the Life
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+C.+L.,+%26+Kudzma,+E.+C.+(2013).
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Jackson, N. (2013). Promoting and marketing events: Theory and practice. Routledge.
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Livingston, J. D., Tugwell, A., Korf-Uzan, K., Cianfrone, M., & Coniglio, C. (2013). Evaluation
of a campaign to improve awareness and attitudes of young people towards mental health
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Mohammed, A. S. (2015). Leading cause of road traffic morbidity and mortality in the United
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Neiger, B. L., Thackeray, R., Van Wagenen, S. A., Hanson, C. L., West, J. H., Barnes, M. D., &
Fagen, M. C. (2012). Use of social media in health promotion: purposes, key

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performance indicators, and evaluation metrics. Health promotion practice, 13(2), 159-
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Posavac, E. (2015). Program evaluation: Methods and case studies. Routledge.
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Salgado, A. B. (2009). Psychology for nurses. McGraw Hill. ISBN 13: 9789833850761
Torkamannejad Sabzevari, J., Khanjani, N., Molaei Tajkooh, A., Nabipour, A. R., & Sullman,
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