Browsing by Author "Mitra, Tatum"

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    The effect of a ski-snowboard injury prevention video on safety knowledge and behaviours in school programs
    (2018-01-11) Mitra, Tatum; Hagel, Brent; Emery, Carolyn; Nettel-Aguirre, Alberto; Caird, Jeff; Russell, Kelly
    Purpose: To implement and evaluate the effects of a skiing and snowboarding injury prevention video on child and adolescent safety knowledge and behaviours. Study Design: Cluster-randomized controlled trial. Background: Skiing and snowboarding are two popular winter activities; however, these sports can lead to injury. Previous studies have found that injuries in snow sports can be prevented and may be associated with poor decisions, actions and human error. Currently, there is no comprehensive injury prevention program found in skiing and snowboarding. Methods: The participants were students in grades 2 through 9 who were a part of the ski and snowboard school programs at a ski area in Southern Alberta. The participants were randomized into either the control or intervention group, based on the school they attended. The control group followed the current standard protocol for the ski and snowboard school programs, including an orientation video, while the intervention group received a video that focuses on safety knowledge and injury prevention. The outcomes were measured through the use of pre- and post-tests (safety knowledge uptake) and the observations of risky behaviours on the ski hill. Results: There was a significant increase in safety knowledge scores for those in the intervention group immediately following exposure to the video intervention (mean change: +1.91 points/15 points) compared with the control group after exposure to the control video (mean change: +0.10 points/15 points). There were 23.31 risky behaviours/100 runs (95% CI: 16.75-29.87) for those in the control group, and 22.95 risky behaviours/100 runs (95% CI: 17.63-28.26) for those in the intervention group. Conclusion: This project demonstrates that a skiing and snowboarding injury prevention video can improve knowledge scores within a school-aged population. The video intervention, however, was not associated with the overall incidence of risky behaviours in this population. Future injury prevention research should investigate how to better translate knowledge to induce behavioural changes and limit risky behaviours in child and adolescent skiers and snowboarders.